


Daichi... FIGHT!

by JellyfishQueenie



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alcohol, Blood, Fighting, M/M, Makeouts, My First Fanfic, Street Fighter AU, Street fighting, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-05-30 16:18:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 52,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6431467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JellyfishQueenie/pseuds/JellyfishQueenie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daichi's secret is that he loves to fight, but is the fight for love more important?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Daichi has a secret

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first fic, I don't know why but I'm obsessed with street fighter AUs but since I can never find any, I'm taking action. It might be a little rough since this is my first stab at writing a fan fic. I'll try and update Tuesdays and Fridays. Thanks!

There were few things Daichi liked more than volleyball, and one of those things was fighting. Fighting and shoyu ramen, but street fighting was a release for Daichi. There was only so much you were in control of being the captain of the volleyball team, and only so much ramen you could eat without realizing you never had any control, but when fighting, Daichi has total control of the situation, no matter how many punches are thrown his way. Each punch that his body absorbs help release all the stress he was holding in. He was mainly thankful that he was known for his receives and not for his spikes or else his hands would be completely bruised and broken. Not many people that were still in high school were in the underground fight scene, and if there were, it wasn’t spoken about. Daichi never had a problem with this since he always looked older than his chronological age. Fighting always made him feel better, but so did – 

“Hmm, Daichi? What are you thinking about?” 

Daichi looked up to see Sugawara standing in front of his desk. Suga furrowed his brows, but once Daichi looked up at him, he smiled and cocked his head to the side, and Daichi can’t help but to smile back but he didn’t reply. 

“Oh, Daichi, do you want to go out tomorrow?” 

Tomorrow, Daichi thought, is Saturday, which means he has a fight tomorrow night. 

“Ah, well,” Daichi rubs the back of his head, “I have plans--” 

“Oh! That’s okay! No worries!” Suga frantically waved his hands in front of himself, and once he settled down he chuckled at himself, “Ya know, this is the third weekend that you’ve had plans. We have some big tests coming up I was only going to see if you wanted to study for a little bit.” 

Daichi scrunched his eyes in disbelief to what his friend had just said to him. He knew it was true. He had been fighting a lot more than usual, and even on week nights, but he felt more stressed than usual too. He also felt guilty. Sugawara was his closest companion and instead of hanging out with him during their last year together, he’s out on the streets somewhere fighting some stranger for fun. 

“I’m sorry,” Daichi apologized and looked Suga square in the eyes, “I have plans tomorrow night, but I would love to study with you tomorrow beforehand. What time?” 

Suga’s face lit up and he replied with a simple, “I’ll be over at ten.” 

Ten O’clock. Daichi wasn’t too thrilled about studying so early since he knew he was going to go out the night before to fight, but for Suga, he would get up even earlier to study with him. 

After class, and after practice, Daichi stood in the gym with Suga watching the dynamic duo of Hinata and Kageyama set and spike, set and spike, and set and spike. Daichi and Suga had finished sweeping the floors and they had dismissed all the other players in order to allow the two first years a few extra minutes of practice time. 

“Okay, time to finish up.” Daichi said stretching his arms above his head. 

“No! Please! Five more minutes!” Hinata begged alongside Kageyama whose eyes pleaded for more time. Daichi sighed and looked over to Suga who just smiled and shrugged his shoulders, but in reply, Daichi said, “How about I treat you to pork buns?” 

With that, both of the first years raced to clean up after themselves and change out of their practice clothes. At the store, Hinata kept bombarding Daichi with questions on his improvement, and Daichi didn’t really have answers for most of them, but made sure Hinata knew that he was proud of him. Once Daichi was able to escape from Hinata’s rambling, he headed up to the counter where Suga was standing and interrupted before Suga could complete his transaction. 

“Make that four pork buns please,” Daichi said, and he pulled money about of his wallet, and this time he was the one who smiled at Suga first. Couch Ukai wasn’t there, so he couldn’t pawn Hinata off on him since he started back up with the questions again. However, this time, he attempted to pull Kageyama into the questions, and Kageyama was able to swiftly ignore his friend’s questions by taking a huge bite of his pork bun that Daichi handed him. 

After leaving the store and the pair of boys parted ways, Suga and Daichi, Hinata and Kageyama, and Suga and Daichi mostly walked in silence. It was fairly dark out and Daichi was fine with silence, he liked being able to be calm before a fight, but he also liked being able to walk in silence with Suga. Suga got into moods where he liked to talk, and god, could Suga talk for hours, about anything, and everything. Daichi loved listening to him talk, Suga was so enthusiastic once he got started and- Daichi’s phone gave off a small ring. He pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket and, wait, what? From Tetsurou Kuroo? Daichi furrowed his brows, contemplating opening the text when Daichi could feel Suga overlooking his phone with curiosity and without a hint of secrecy that he was in fact looking at Daichi’s phone. Daichi started staring at Suga wondering what was going through Suga’s mind, that was until Suga looked up at Daichi from the corner of his eyes and smiled at him. 

“Well, you gonna open it or not?” 

“I guess I have no choice now, but you know, curiosity killed the cat.” Daichi said with a raise of an eyebrow. 

“But Daichi, satisfaction brought it back.” Suga replied. Daichi held his thumb over the open button of the message from the Nekoma captain, hoping and praying and hoping so much that Kuroo doesn’t say anything about street-fighting, please no, Kuroo do not say anything, anything about fighting. He looks at Suga once more before opening the message. 

_Yo Sawamura ~ you should come to Tokyo this weekend_

Daichi mentally sighed in relief and Suga looked up at Daichi as he raised an eyebrow. 

“You’re planning on going to Tokyo?” Suga poked at Daichi. No words formed in Daichi’s mouth. He needed an excuse, an alibi, but his mind was blank and instilled with panic. 

“I well, I was going to Tokyo, so,” Daichi didn’t want to lie to Suga, but didn’t want to scare him, so Daichi told him the truth, “Well, one of the colleges I’m interested in is in Tokyo, and well, Kuroo was just going to show me around some.” 

Suga had raised his eyebrows in anticipation of something bigger, and Daichi was blushing and his legs had gone numb from nervousness and wasn’t sure he was still standing. 

“So-“ Suga had started, Daichi interrupted and said, “But, not this weekend of course, I mean, he just texted me right now and asked, I haven’t seen him since our last game together so I’m not quite sure where this came from to be honest.” Suga had his eyebrows raised with a devious smile.


	2. Kuroo's secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi doesn't question Kuroo, because who knows where Kuroo gets his information from.

After the last match with Karasuno and Nekoma, everyone gathered in their usual groups. Hinata talked with Kageyama, Kenma and Lev, while Suga talked to Yaku and a few others, when Daichi heard his name being called. 

“Yo, Sawamura,” Kuroo called with a smirk, “Come here.” 

Daichi looked at the six foot tall kid who stood there smirking at him. Sure there was always tension between the two captains, but why is Kuroo standing there like he owns the world and smirking like that? Okay, Kuroo always smirks like that. Daichi took a first hesitant step towards Kuroo, and made his way over, and once Daichi stood right in front of the Nekoma captain, he was still smirking. 

“I heard you street fight.” Kuroo purred with his arms folded across his chest, still smirking. Daichi knew he was far away so that no one else heard the topic of their conversation. Daichi smirked in return. 

“I’m not sure how you found out, but yes.” Daichi replied crossing his arms across his chest. Kuroo still smirked at the shorter captain, and Daichi knew why Kuroo had been smirking like that, maybe it wasn’t just his usual face. 

“Listen,” Kuroo bent over a little, “I street fight too, and I don’t know how you do things down in the country, but Tokyo is the real deal when it comes to fighting. You should join me some weekend.” 

“Thanks for the offer but-” 

“I won’t take no for an answer, Sawamura,” Kuroo dragged out the syllables in Daichi’s name, “If you’re as good of a fighter as I’ve heard you are, you’ve got to fight with me.” 

Daichi stared intently at the other captain, who, of course, was still smirking. Daichi had always fought alone, mostly because everyone fought for small amounts of money, not to make friends and go out for drinks, not that he could drink yet anyway, but still. 

“Alright, I’ll come up one weekend to fight with you.” Daichi agreed after taking a moment to think it over, and shook the other captain’s hand. 

Suga had watched the two captains talking together. He wasn’t paying attention to what anyone around him was saying. He focused on Daichi, how close the captains stood together, how Kuroo bent down to talk to Daichi more personally. Once they had shook hands, Yaku had apparently seen that Suga was watching their captains and decided to speak out. 

“It’s so nice to see less tension between our captains.” Yaku said, startling Karasuno’s vice captain. 

“Ah! Yes!” Suga laughed uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his head. After the two shook hands, they walked back towards everyone else, and Daichi looked content, Suga thought, he also thought that Daichi being content is different than Daichi being happy. Though the two words might be synonyms, they didn’t mean the same thing, especially when it came to Daichi. Suga thought a million things as Daichi headed back towards them. Would he ever ask Daichi what they talked about, no, maybe later rather than sooner, but not if Daichi didn’t want to talk about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, this one was pretty short, but things will pick up.


	3. A long awaited fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fight scenes are in between ***  
> I wrote the fight scenes in present tense for a few reasons, plus I feel like it's easier to write fight scenes as if it were happening.

Once Daichi parted ways with Suga, a kind of sort of jealous Suga that Daichi was unaware of since Suga was the best at playing things off and since Daichi is pretty dense, Suga had turned around and thought about yelling out to Daichi but thought that he was too far away. Suga wasn’t that jealous, happy that his friend was reaching out to other people, but jealous that his friend was reaching out towards other people, but that’s a normal reaction, right? But Daichi would never know. His head was just as dense as his body was, and Daichi, was ready to fight. He walked the rest of his way home alone, his parents were busy with work as usual, and he appreciated that to an extent, to the extent that he was able to leave the house with only notifying his parents that he would be back later. And if his parents were sleeping, or out of town on a business trip? Well, all he’d have to do then was leave. 

Tonight his parents were still awake, well barely awake. Daichi greeted them when he came in and went straight to his room. He put his school bags down, stripped off his clothes and changed into sweatpants, a white t-shirt, wrapped his hands up so there wouldn’t be many bruises, and put a sweatshirt on to top it all off. He grabbed a book bag, one that he used to put an extra set of clothes and extra bandages in. Nothing important though. You couldn’t trust anyone at the street matches. Why were they called street matches anyway, he thought as he made his way to the abandoned house where there were fights nightly. 

He walked up to the door of the house as his phone rang again. He took a quick look. Suga. 

_Don’t forget, 10 o’clock tomorrow :)_

Daichi smiles. He wasn’t aware that he did though, and he quickly texted Suga back. 

_I’ll see you then_

*** 

Daichi enters the abandoned house and can already hear punches landing on bodies and landing on punching bags. This is when Daichi knowingly smiles, and he can feel the adrenaline coursing its way through his veins, just like before a big volleyball match. He knows who he’s up against tonight. He’s never fought this guy before but Daichi knows his history, he had peeked Daichi’s interest. This guy has never lost a fight here, how does Daichi know this? He had seen one of his fights before, and he knew that he had to fight this guy. So Daichi did his research. He signed up for this fight. For the past two months, Daichi had been watching him, watching how he moves, how he blocks, what his first hit is, how he strikes, what his stance is like, but most importantly, what his finishing move is. A lot of guys have them, a finishing move. Daichi, when he knew he had enough history of him, signed up for the fight. Not for money, but for the challenge. Sure, Daichi likes the money, but he loves the challenge, the actual fight and taking a punch just because he knows his recover rate from taking a hit is quick. 

Daichi pulls his hood over his head and heads down to the basement of the house. No one notices when he walks down into the basement. That’s how things go. The fight that is going on when Daichi walks in the basement is almost at a finish, and he knows this is the fight before his, so he finds a spot to drop his bag and hoodie at while he’s fighting. He finds a spot in the corner that is a little damp, but Daichi doesn’t care. He shreds his hoodie and walks to watch the end of the fight. He doesn’t really care who wins, so he mainly watches his opponent on the other side of the room practicing on a punching bag. Daichi doesn’t even realize that the fight right in front of his is over, but he knows that it ended bloody. There was never any time to clean up between fights, and before he knows it, the guy who runs the underground fight scene here is announcing the next fight, his fight. Daichi sees his opponent hop around and walk into the makeshift ring. Daichi walks into the ring fairly modestly compared to his opponent. Daichi is sweating. A nervous sweat? If so, Daichi doesn’t acknowledge his nerves, but his shirt is sticking to his body, in between his shoulder blades and the underside of his arms. He notices this for a second until he realizes that he is face to face with his opponent. It’s one thing to watch from the sidelines, but once in front of your opponent, it’s a whole different story. He already knew this in volleyball, playing against guys taller than him, but then again, there’s a net in between them and his opponent on the court isn’t trying to punch him in the face, well they might think about it but they don’t act it out. 

His opponent, only a few inches taller than him, maybe 5’11”, however, his shoulders seemed like they were twice as large as Daichi’s, and his arms in general thicker than Daichi’s thighs. Daichi snaps himself out of checking out his opponent before he psyched himself out, and starts stretching his arms across his chest. Daichi usually spaces out now and waits until he hears the announced FIGHT. Daichi stoops in his stance. He switched his stance up for the fight. His knees bent, right foot forward since his opponent thought a left handed punch first, and fists up and ready. He and his opponent stare each other in the eyes as they waited. Patience, and patience. Just a little more and – wait. Daichi notices something different about his opponent’s starting stance. He’s going to— 

“ _FIGHT!_ ” 

His opponent throws a right handed punch. Daichi thought his stance was different. Thought his opponent was going to throw a wild card. Did he notice Daichi watching him the past two months? Did his opponent switch his stance up because of Daichi’s stance? Daichi is able to move his whole body around the punch, throwing his own right handed punch which lands on his opponent’s left cheek bone. This is a messy way to start the fight off, Daichi thinks. He knows that it’s not ideal to hit the face, unless you have enough power behind the punch to knock the person out. He didn’t since he was caught off guard. However, dodging his opponents punch gives him a second more. Daichi undercuts his left fist into his opponent’s stomach. Was that even a stomach? That was a brick wall. Daichi’s fist sits there for a moment, but he quickly pulls back and analyzes his opponent. A left handed punch? Daichi thinks back to notes that he took. A left handed punch straight to the gut in order to get the lead in the fight. Daichi knows what’s coming next. He decides he has two options, he could take the blow and possibly get the wind knocked out of him, or he could try to take a step back and dodge the punch. These options come to Daichi as instincts. There’s not much time to think during a fight. As his opponents arm swings towards him, he takes the step back, and it is just short of Daichi. Now in this moment, Daichi knows this fight is his. His opponent stumbles forward from the force of his punch, and in this moment of shock, Daichi smirks. He takes a low step and punches his opponent in the chest, because if the stomach didn’t work a chest hit is his next best option. His opponent coughs, a dry cough, maybe it wasn’t even a cough, just all the air in his opponent’s chest being forced out by Daichi’s punch. Daichi knows his next few moves, he’s taking control of this fight. He takes a step to his right and punches his opponent in the ribs, once, twice, and – 

And his third punch misses, and Daichi staggers forward and takes a punch to his face. Daichi had learn from previous mistakes, always cover your face with your shoulders, always cover your face with your shoulders, arms, hands, something. Not only that, but your shoulders must be level as to where you’re throwing your punch at, Daichi knows this, and because of this, his shoulders were level with his opponents ribs, but his opponents shoulders were level with Daichi’s face. A fight happens in the moment, Daichi thinks, a fight is a struggle for the lead. 

Daichi stumbles from the surprise punch to the face, but recovers quickly. Both he and his opponent are staring at each other. His opponent smiles, Daichi thinks there’s something wrong with his smile, something disturbing and off-putting, and Daichi is ready to end this fight. Both of them know that the other is a worthy opponent, or else the lead would have been taken within the first few punches. But Daichi, oh Daichi knows he has to end this fight. He’s able to throw the next punch, and every punch that his opponent retaliates with, Daichi is able to recover from, quicker than his opponent. That is how he regains the lead of the fight, how he is able to throw more punches, and land more hits than his opponent can manage to recover from. Daichi’s last punch is to his opponent’s chest, which blows all the air out from his opponent’s lungs and knocks him down. 

Daichi stands in his stance. He thinks this is the longest fight that he has been in, and probably the hardest. Daichi is able to contemplate his next moves in a fight, elongating time in his head, able to see his opponents move and follow through with his instincts. The announcer raises Daichi’s arm, says some words and shoves some money in his hands, and Daichi heads home. 

*** 

Daichi headed for his own house, one that wasn’t necessarily abandoned. With every step he felt more and more pain. Ribs, stomach, his face—a face he had to do something with so Suga wouldn’t notice any bruising or swelling. That’s why he liked fighting on the weekend, but that’s also why he and Suga hadn’t been together on the weekends. Daichi could admit to himself that he missed being with Suga on the weekends. The boys had only known each other in high school, but it wasn’t about how long you knew someone, it was about how well you knew someone, and Daichi thought he knew Suga pretty well, and Daichi missed learning more about Suga, so he didn’t mind staying up later and icing his face so the bruises would go unnoticed. He touched his face where he had been punched, he could feel a little bit of swelling, and it hurt when he pressed down on it, but he wasn’t thinking about the fight or the pain. He pulled out his phone and set an alarm for 8:30 a.m. so he could ice his face more before Suga came over, and if he knew Suga, he knew Suga would show up at least fifteen minutes early. 

After Daichi iced his face on and off for about forty-five minutes, he decided to give it a rest and lay down in bed. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, he remembered he never texted Kuroo back. 

_I need more notice than the night before. What about next week?_

Barely a few seconds passed when— 

_Are you thinking about me this late at night? How sweet Sawamura. Next weekend sounds marvelous~ it’s a date ;)_

Daichi felt his face burn, he knew he should’ve just texted him back in the morning. Was their relationship professional as captains of rival teams? I mean they were still both in high school, maybe this is okay. 

Daichi squinted at the bright screen that illuminated his dark room, too embarrassed to say anything back and too tired to think of anything smart to say. Should he even say anything back? Maybe this time he should keep it professional. What time was it anyway? Only—wait, only one in the morning? Maybe his fight actually did take longer than he thought. The walk there and back home doesn’t take that long, although the walk home always takes longer since he’s exhausted afterward. 

_Whatever’s going to help you sleep tonight. Text me the details tomorrow._

Daichi put his phone down a closed his eyes once more. Eight hours of sleep was out of the question and his phone rang again? What more could Kuroo have to say this late at night? 

_Don’t worry I will. Sweet dreams Sawamura_

Daichi didn’t know what to think in this situation. He’d never text anyone like this before, he thought. Did he just leave it be? Did he text him back and say goodnight? Maybe he was too professional in his previous text and should’ve added it in that one. Texting Suga was never this stressful, but Suga was a stressful person. He knew Suga, but he didn’t know Kuroo. Daichi thought about it, that was a conversation ender. He wouldn’t text Kuroo back, Kuroo was going to text him tomorrow with details of how he was getting to Tokyo and so on. Daichi was tired, he put his phone down for good for the night and closed his eyes, ignoring all pain that was existent.


	4. Do you feel okay?

Suga stood outside Daichi’s house, he looked at his phone, it was 9:42. Should he walk around the block once more? Daichi was probably just waking up anyway, but he brought breakfast and he didn’t want it to get too cold. Okay, he decided, he will knock on the door. Right before Suga’s fist hit the door, it opened. 

“Daichi?!” Suga said in surprise, “You’re up early. I brought breakfast.” 

Daichi woke up when his alarm went off at 8:30 to ice his face for the swelling from last night’s fight. He had forgotten to eat so he was grateful that Suga had brought breakfast, although Daichi would have made them something to eat. 

“Oh thanks, come on in.” Daichi said moving out of the way so Suga could make his way through the house, a house that Suga had been in a million times before. Suga sat his book bag down and sat the box of food down on the table. 

“Are your parents out?” Suga asked as he headed into the kitchen to grab something to drink. 

“Mm, yeah,” Daichi said following Suga, “I have water heating up if you want tea.” 

Suga stared back at Daichi. Daichi was never prepared this early in the morning. It’s not like Daichi slept in late, but Daichi doesn’t love waking up early, and Daichi never has water ready for tea _this early_. Suga was even surprised when Daichi agreed to studying at ten in the morning on a day off of school. Suga walked right up to Daichi, extremely close. Daichi felt like he was on fire. Suga placed the back of his hand on Daichi’s forehead. 

“Your face is flushed and you feel warm,” Suga assessed, “Do you feel okay?” 

Daichi sighed in relief and laughed a little. He also backed up, his stomach was in knots and all the nerves in his body had gone numb. 

“Yes, Suga, I feel fine. You scared me. Now let’s eat and get started on homework.” 

Suga still felt skeptical. He knew there was something different about Daichi, but he wasn’t going to press the matter, sure he was worried, but Daichi seemed uncomfortable. Maybe he would bring it up later. 

Daichi and Suga drank their tea and ate breakfast, they both took their time, neither of them really wanted to study, but neither of them had anything really to talk about while they ate. Suga finished first, and once Daichi was done he collected both of their plates and retreated into the kitchen. Suga wanted to say something, he felt bad about bombarding Daichi like that, but he was worried and that’s just who he is. 

“Do you want more tea?” Daichi asked from the other room. He startled Suga from his thoughts. 

“Oh, uh, I’ll have more if you are!” Suga said waving his hands dismissing the question. 

Daichi poured them both more tea. He stayed in the kitchen for a moment. He wasn’t sure why Suga standing so close to him made him so nervous. Well at first he was scared that Suga saw a bruise on Daichi face and wanted to get a closer look at it. He thought about Suga’s hand on his forehead. Suga had soft hands. Daichi shook his head and headed back into the other room. 

Both of the boys pulled out homework. They started with math, something they were both just ok with. They decided to get it out of the way first. After math they continued on with all the rest of their classes. Suga couldn’t concentrate that well, he kept doodling on his papers instead. He wanted to ask Daichi what was going on with him lately. 

“Hey Daichi,” Suga started, and Daichi looked up at him, but Suga kept staring at the tiny cartoon cat he was drawing, “Ya know, if you’re in a relationship you can tell me.” 

Daichi eyes widened. 

“I mean you’re out every weekend, it’s okay. I understand. You can tell me anything,” Suga finally looked up at Daichi and smiled, “What are they like? Wait—oh my gosh, is it Kuroo? Is that why he texted you last night? Why didn’t you tell me? We could have studied another day-” 

“Suga, I’m not dating Kuroo,” Daichi said with a scrunched nose, “Thank you for your consideration, but I’m not dating anyone, especially not Kuroo-” 

“Have you thought about it though?” 

This hit Daichi like that punch to his face last night. Had he thought about dating Kuroo? The one text from Kuroo last night said something about it being a “date” but that was just a joke. Did Kuroo say something to Suga? He doesn’t even have Suga’s number though, or does he? No, no, what was he thinking. Daichi looked at Suga who had an eyebrow raised and a smug grin on his face. Daichi realized he took too long thinking about how to answer Suga’s question. He waved his hands in front of his face. 

“No, no, Suga, please don’t start this. I do _not_ like Kuroo. I barely even know him.” 

“Well now’s your chance!” Suga smiled, more enthusiastically than he would’ve liked. Daichi sighed. He appreciated his friends concern, but he did not need Suga setting him up with anyone. 

“I do not like Kuroo. Thank you though.” Daichi said, Suga huffed and sat his head in his hand that also held his pen. He got ink on his cheek. 

“Well, when are you going to Tokyo then?” Suga asked. Daichi felt his face get warm and he rubbed the back of his head. He did _not_ like Kuroo. 

“Oh, uhm, next weekend actually.” Daichi admitted. Suga felt his heart drop. Okay no, his heart didn’t drop, it plummeted into stomach, but he forced a smile. 

“Oooh, good luck Daichi.” Suga winked, and Daichi blushed even harder. Daichi loved Suga’s winks. How could winking be so natural for Suga to do? If Daichi just winked at friend, they would cringe. Can he even wink? Maybe, he’d have to try, but he wouldn’t look as natural as Suga. 

Suga always tried to talk about personal things with Daichi. Suga had no problem talking about these things, and talked about them all the time. Daichi never seemed that comfortable. Suga liked watching Daichi blush through his tan skin, so he always prompted these kinds of questions to him. He also liked the way Daichi got flustered. Daichi easily got flustered around Suga, simply because Daichi didn’t intimidate Suga the way he intimidated everyone else. 

“Oi, you got some ink on your face.” Daichi pointed out, Suga pulled his hand away from his face and put his pen down—and felt a hand on his face. He looked up. Daichi reached across the table and rubbed his thumb over the ink on Suga’s face. Maybe Daichi did intimidate Suga like he did everyone else because his heart rose out of his stomach and started pumping his blood faster and faster. Daichi’s hands were rough, Suga wondered if he got all the ink off his face. He didn’t really care though. 

“There,” Daichi said pulling his hand away. Grab his hand, grab his hand, grab his hand. Suga didn’t grab his hand, “Now, are you feeling okay? You look like you might get sick.” 

“Ah, ah, too much tea maybe.” Suga laughed nervously.


	5. The Wolf

After Suga left, Daichi’s parents came home soon after. They made small talk with him. Daichi knew the meaning of hard work from his parents and from living in the country. His parents made a lot of money though, they weren’t rich, but they were more fortunate than most families in town. Daichi didn’t care really, probably because that’s how he grew up, but he did often wish he saw his parents more. Sure, okay, yeah, it was nice to have money at his disposal, but there was no relationship between him and his parents. His father was a doctor, and his mother was a lawyer and they both worked in the city, or further. Both of his parents had grown up poor and worked their way up to where they were, Daichi knew he had to do the same, except for the overcoming poverty thing of course, he just had to get a good education, get a good job, and marry someone with the same values. Fighting, of course, had no place in any of this. That’s also why Daichi liked to fight, it gave him freedom, it let him know that he wasn’t doomed to the same fate as his parents. 

It was around ten when his father fell asleep, but his mother was still awake, looking over some documents. Daichi put somethings in his book bag and thought about what to say to his mother. He liked it when they passed out in random rooms and it was easy for him to sneak out, but he often feared that his parents would question him. He walked out of his room and stuck his head in his mother’s study. How should he talk? His parents taught him how to formally speak, he always blamed that for social barriers. 

“I’m going out for a jog, goodnight mom.” Daichi bowed his head in his mother’s direction. 

“Oh, goodnight Daichi,” she turned away from her documents and smiled. He saw how tired she looked. He felt guilty for some reason but, this is what she chose to do in life. She was a hard-worker, and even though he didn’t have much of a relationship with his parents, he didn’t like to see them work themselves to death. So Daichi left the house to go to his fight. 

*** 

Daichi walks into the basement of the abandoned house, there’s a few looks cast his way. He looks at the sheet on the wall behind the announcer to see what fights he can sign up for. This is sort of like a blind date, he thinks, sign your alias in a slot and wait for someone to sign up for the fight. The announcer takes a look at the sheet and calls the fight. That’s when you know who you are fighting. When you’re walking in the ring and someone else is walking in there with you. Tonight there’s only one slot open. Saturday nights are usually busy. Most nights start around ten, depending on who has signed up for fights, and usually fights stop around one or two in the morning. 

The slot that Daichi signs up for is coming up soon, and the alias on the sheet reads The Wolf. Daichi hasn’t fought The Wolf yet, he scans the room looking for anyone who could pass as a wolf. Maybe someone hairy, or maybe they’re scrawny and dodge hits. He felt a little excited for this fight, he’s never fought a wolf before. 

Daichi is lost in his thoughts when he hears his fight called. He steps in the ring, and then The Wolf steps in the ring. The Wolf is maybe a middle aged man with peppered hair, he guesses that is wolf like enough, the man also has a scar across his left cheek. Daichi thought that was eerie, The Wolf. Both fighters stand in the ring, stoop to their stances, and that’s when Daichi finds out why he’s called The Wolf. The older fighter, clad with a sleeveless shirts, plenty of tattoos showing, smiles wide and long, teeth baring threats of ripping his opponent to shreds. Daichi’s jaw drops, but he regains his composure. 

“ _FIGHT!_ ” 

Daichi thinks to himself that he can’t win every fight, and losing a fight doesn’t mean you are knocked out. This place would be alerted to the authorities if that was the case. Losing, for Daichi is being knocked down, once he is knocked down, he doesn’t get up, this is surrender enough. As he thinks all of this, The Wolf quick steps to Daichi’s left and throws a punch to Daichi’s ribs. That’s a nice starting move, he thinks and he braces himself for the punch by pivoting and blocking with his forearm. Daichi throws a right-handed punch to The Wolfs face, the punch lands but The Wolf cocks his arm back and retaliates with a quick fire of punches, the first one hurting more than the rest. Once Daichi regains his composure, which is hard to do after taking so many punches, he steps to his right and throws a punch. The Wolf dodges this, and all Daichi sees is a fist heading straight towards his face, there’s no time to react. Daichi is forced to take a few steps back. He knows where he is, but this fight is going too quick for him. Daichi bends his knees and braces his arms in front of him. It’s possible that he can win this, it’s _possible_ , but tonight? 

Daichi looks at The Wolf, the smiling wolf who wants to devour Daichi as he stands across the ring. Daichi feels the string of spit that must’ve escaped his mouth when he got hit, he wipes it away with the back of his left hand. Before he puts his arm down, he takes two steps forward and uppercuts into The Wolfs stomach. The Wolf takes the hit and punches Daichi right away, as if he was completely unfathomed that Daichi just put all the force in his body into that punch. The Wolf’s punch hit Daichi in the face, the other side of his face that hadn’t been hit in the past two nights. This sends Daichi flying, he has to take a few steps to find his balance, once he hits the floor, that’s game over. 

As Daichi goes to stand up straight, he feels a hand on his shoulder, and then a punch to his stomach. Daichi coughs and falls straight back. All he sees is white, and a buzz fills his ears. That’s it, he thinks, the end of the match. Of course he had lost fights before, but it never feels good. So there he is, sitting on the floor, drooling, one hand in front of his face, the other calling it quits. 

“ _THAT’S IT!_ ” the announcer calls. Daichi is still sitting on the floor and he never feels the presence of The Wolf leave, it’s still there, right in front of him, lurking, probably still smiling. Daichi drops his hands and looks up to see the old man, The Wolf, standing, and offering a hand out to Daichi, and he takes it, and the old man helps him up. 

“You fought well kid.” The Wolf says still holding Daichi’s hand. All Daichi can do in response is nod his head in thanks, and it feels like his brain hits the front of his skull. 

“Get yer shit, I wanna talk to ya, son.” The Wolf also says, and Daichi nods again. He never talked to anyone, that he fought, after the match. 

*** 

Daichi grabbed his bag and headed towards The Wolf who was standing at the stairs of the basement. The Wolf nodded up the stairs and up Daichi went, with the old man following him. They left the house and walked outside, the cold air felt good on Daichi’s burning skin. 

“How old are you?” The Wolf asked, breaking the silence. Panic, automatic panic. Should he tell him how old he was? The old man already pulled out a cigarette and lit it, he offered Daichi one, but he decline the offer. 

“Yeah, I didn’t think you were old enough to smoke yet,” The Wolf smiled, eyeing Daichi out of the corner of his eyes, he had just turned eighteen a few months ago, “Why are you fighting in a place like this kid? You don’t belong here.” 

“Why are you fighting here then?” Daichi questioned him back. The old man looked amused. 

“Well, since you asked, I was a professional boxer. I never get anyone to sign up to fight me, that’s ‘cos they all know who I am. Now I know that you aren’t a kid with big dream of becoming a boxer, but you’re still just a kid,” The old man said, but not threatening, but more remorseful, “You should have dreams, bigger dreams, don’t waste it on fighting in that moldy basement. I could’ve knocked you out with one punch ya know.” 

Daichi looked at the old man. He was smiling big, but not The Wolf’s smile, a real smile. Daichi smiled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm also going to upload chapter 6 tonight since it's pretty short.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty short. I also wanted to warn that there's blood in this chapter. It's not gory, but there is blood. This is probably my favorite chapter that I've written, so I hope you enjoy it too! Thanks for reading!

Earlier in the year, about four or five months ago, Daichi had gone out on a late grocery run. He couldn’t help it, he ran out of his favorite tea. It was the beginning of the summer, it was late, so the temperature wasn’t that high, but it was still warm. Daichi had just made it before the store closed. He picked up his tea, a couple of other things he knew was missing from the kitchen cabinets, and left the store. Most of the streetlights were burned out, but the store was only a few blocks away from his house. His footsteps echoed in the quiet streets. The echoes were loud, he thought. What exactly were his footsteps echoing off—the echoes, he decided, were footsteps that trailed him. Daichi never left the house this late, he never had to deal with problems like these. Surely it was just someone else who ran out of their favorite tea too, right? 

He decided it was more than one pair of footsteps that were following him. Should he head straight home? He didn’t want his followers to know where he lived though, but he also didn’t want to stray too far away. 

They were definitely just walking home from buying their favorite tea too. 

The footsteps, they were getting faster. Should he walk faster too? He certainly should walk faster. Longer strides? Quicker strides? He felt like running. His heart was running. His mind, racing, gone, no thoughts. What— 

Something grabbed Daichi’s arm and swung him around. Daichi threw his arms out to catch his balance. His eyes scanned the two guys that towered over him. He stared them in the face, he didn’t remember what they looked like. He could look at them for hours and never remember what they looked like. His eyes were wide, the streets weren’t lit well, he saw colors that weren’t really there, and he saw stars inches away from his eyes when the first punch hit his face. 

Did they say something to him? He couldn’t hear anything but white noise. He saw their lips moving. He felt a hand grip the collar of his shirt. Oh wow, he thought, it’s just like the movies. The other guy punched Daichi in the stomach. 

Why, what did they want? He already dropped his bag that had his tea. Why were they doing this to him? Does he know them? He couldn’t even remember what their faces looked like. He couldn’t hear their voices. Why, why, why? 

“What do you want from me!” Daichi screamed, choking in the middle of his sentence from holding back tears. 

Another punch to the gut, and another, another to his face, and two to his ribs. He saw one of the guys fist come plummeting into his face. He heard a crack. He felt blood come pouring out of his nose, felt it drip on his shirt, his sight went white, he blinked a few times, and then he grabbed the guy’s wrist that still held the collar of his shirt. 

He ripped the guys hand away from him and punched him in the face with a fist connected to his arm that shook with adrenaline and fear. The guy fell to the ground and Daichi fell with him, continuously punching the guys face. The blood dripping from Daichi’s nose splattered onto the guy’s face with every drop. Daichi punched and punched, until he felt a kick to his ribs, and he rolled over. He quickly kneeled to face both of the guys, he gripped his shoes on the pavement and sprang and tackled the guy who just kicked him. 

The guy beneath him covered his face with his arms. Daichi still didn’t remember their faces, he didn’t hear anything but the ringing that filled his ears, but sitting on top of this guy who covered his face with his arms in terror brought a sense of power to Daichi, it showed Daichi how strong he was, but this guy he sat on top of, brought him back to reality. He felt the blood still dripping from his nose, and he looked at his hands, busted up and covered in blood. He had no control of his body. It was simply fight or flight, and he chose to fight, he had no option for flight. 

He stood up, still over the guy laying on the ground, still no facial recognition. He walked over to where his grocery bag was and picked it up. He watched the first guy, who was now on his hands and knees, spit out blood, and cough, and spit again, this time blood and a tooth. The guy wiped his mouth and stood up. Daichi looked at the guy’s mouth, he saw the hole in the guy’s mouth where his tooth had been. Two over from the front top tooth on the left. The guy missing the tooth walked over to his friends and offered him a hand up, they both looked at Daichi and walked from where they came from. 

Daichi stared at the tooth on the ground. He walked over to it, looked at it for a few seconds and picked it up and put it in his pocket. 

He went home and made himself a cup of tea.


	7. Strawberry Pocky & Twelve steps

“If yer planning on going back there and fighting…come on over to me and the boys, we love some fresh meat.” Was the last thing The Wolf said before leaving Daichi to walk home. He told Daichi that he was there most Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Daichi made a mental note of that. 

Sunday and Monday flew by with school and practice. No one noticed the light bruises that painted Daichi’s face. Daichi probably only noticed the bruises because it was his face, and he kept an eye out for them just to make sure they weren’t too bright, or too dark? He had relatively dark skin, a normal bruise didn’t show that much, but he still watched the bruises stages. 

It was Tuesday. He knew the bruises were yellow, but no one else did. Practice was as normal, everyone played their hearts out even during practice, but he felt like Suga wasn’t as into practice as he normally was. Daichi loved his team, and how well they played and how much they improved, but sometimes he resented how well Kageyama was. He loved watching Suga play on the court, he hated watching Suga give his spot up for the first year, he _hated_ watching Suga get upset because he no longer played in games, and he will never forget the night after practice where Suga cried to Daichi. He cried because he felt he wasn’t needed, because Daichi wouldn’t let him quit the team, because he was happy for Kageyama and Karasuno’s volleyball team. 

Daichi and Suga were the last ones to leave the school after practice. It was dark and the air was still, not heavy, but still. Daichi tried to keep the conversation going, but Suga only responded with hums and forced chuckles. Daichi watched Suga walk staring at the ground, and soon Suga looked up at Daichi and smiled. Suga could always smile, no matter the situation. 

“Let’s grab something to eat.” Daichi said and elbowed Suga to go into the convenience store. Suga actually smiled at this and nodded his head. In the store, Daichi walked down an isle and Suga went up to the counter to look at the options there. Daichi heard Suga talk with whoever was working, so he picked something up and headed to the counter. 

“Do you want a pork bun too?” Daichi said as he pulled out his wallet to retrieve some cash. Suga looked at Daichi, stitching his brows together. Suga said no. Daichi handed the correct amount to the cashier all the while staring at Suga. They walked out of the store. 

Now the air was heavy. Daichi wasn’t sure what he did wrong. He always paid for treats at the convenience store. 

“So-” Daichi started, and Suga interrupted saying, “You don’t need to pay for everything for me. My family isn’t _that_ poor. I can pay for myself too.” 

Suga stared at the ground; Daichi stared at Suga. Although he had been in many fights, Daichi’s stomach twisted more than it had ever before any fight or any volleyball match. 

“Suga, I-” Daichi started but stopped walking, “I never meant it to seem like that was what I was doing.” 

Suga had stopped walking after a couple of steps, but his back was facing Daichi. Suga heard Daichi take a couple of steps and stop again. He was standing right behind Suga, an inch away from Suga, so close to Suga that Suga could feel Daichi sigh. 

“I just like treating you, I won’t if you don’t want me to though,” Daichi whispered and Suga felt chills go down his back, “But I know that’s not why you’re upset, and if you don’t want to talk about it then that’s fine, I won’t push it. I know how much you like Pocky though, and I like seeing you happy. That’s all.” 

Both of the boys stood there for a second, two seconds, and three, four and five seconds, until Suga twirled around with a smile on his face. It took Daichi by surprise, but he smiled back at Suga but Suga smiled so hard his eyes were closed. That’s Daichi’s favorite smile. 

“I’m sorry, I know you’re right. Thank you for talking me out of that.” Suga said giving Daichi a “light” punch to the chest. Daichi coughed, swearing Suga should be the one street-fighting, not him. 

They both laughed, Daichi mostly coughed though. They both looked each other in the eyes, both of them eye level with the other. Did the knots in Daichi’s stomach ever go away, or did they just come back now? Daichi wanted to pick his next words just right. He rubbed the back of his head, “Did you want to come over for dinner tomorrow?” 

Suga’s eyes lit up, and then he scrunched his nose. 

“Is your mom cooking or are you ordering take out?” Suga asked and Daichi’s face went red. 

“N-no-o. I was going to cook.” 

Suga laughed. Daichi wanted to throw up. 

“Mm, Okay! I would love to!” 

Instant relief, Daichi’s shoulders dropped. The two of them started walking home again. Suga opened his Pocky and offered Daichi one, it was strawberry, and Daichi didn’t like the strawberry flavor, but he took it, and almost didn’t want to eat it because he wanted to cherish it. This time, he liked strawberry Pocky. 

Daichi’s parents were working in separate rooms when he got home, so he went into the kitchen to make tea and see what they had for dinner. Nothing that special. He ate what was left of dinner and washed his dishes. He searched throughout the kitchen to see what he could make for tomorrow night. There was one thing that Daichi could make: rice. Well, that’s not true, he could also make a mean meal out of ramen. He thought about what Suga might like. Suga liked tofu. Daichi frowned. Did you make tofu? Or did you buy tofu? Daichi had no idea, this was something to look up. He grabbed his phone and he saw he had a missed message. 

_Sawamura~ sorry I forgot to text you before. Here’s what you need to know about what trains to get on and stuff_

Kuroo sent a link of a map directing what train station to get on and which one to get off at. Another message came through. 

_If you could come Friday night, the sooner the better ;)_

Daichi stared at the message. Why did Kuroo text like this? How was he supposed to reply to such a...promiscuous sounding message? 

_I’m sure that’s what you think, and yes, I can come Friday after school._

Daichi had forgotten why he picked his phone up in the first place. Oh right, tofu. It isn’t long before Daichi finds an article titled, _Twelve easy steps to make tofu_. He clicked on the article and read through the steps, ok seems easy enough. Although his parents were barely home, they always had a kitchen filled to the brim, they no doubtedly had everything needed to make tofu. Daichi had started looking through the kitchen for soymilk, check, and Nigari…che—his phone rang again, what else could Kuroo want? 

_Cool ;) so whatcha up to Sawamura?_

Daichi was in no way socially inept, but he never really had a conversation like this through text message. He slowly typed out his message, wondering if it was ok. 

_Attempting to make tofu_

He stared at his message for what felt like minutes before he finally pressed the send button. He went back to making tofu, he had soybeans and he had the Nigari. Okay, so the first step— his phone rang, again. Wow Kuroo texted back fast. 

_I didn’t know you liked tofu. I know a few places to get good tofu at in Tokyo if you want_

Daichi almost wanted to laugh. Okay, tofu wasn’t bad but that was totally Suga’s thing. 

_Oh no no, no thank you. I’m making it for Suga._ Send. 

Okay, now it was time to make tofu. He blended the soy beans with water to make soymilk and then he started to boil it. He was a few minutes in when he got another text. 

_Oooh I see now Sawamura ;)_

What. What did he see? Maybe he should play this one cool? 

_Haha, what do you mean?_

Another few minutes went by, the soy milk was done boiling. He drained the soymilk and mixed in the Nigari. That had to sit for about twenty minutes. Another text from Kuroo came in. 

_Nothing nothing. You’re just as thick headed as I thought. Have fun making tofu ;) I’ll see you on Friday_

Does he think…? Daichi didn’t know what to think, Kuroo was always making sly comments that Daichi never knew how to take, but maybe it was because they were texting, maybe it would go over better when they were talking in person. Friday. 

Twenty minutes went by, Daichi searched the kitchen for the tofu box thingy. Cabinets and drawers and, ah, there it was. He stuffed the tofu in the box and drained it. So next step…let it set for another thirty minutes? Daichi sighed. He could’ve been done a fight by now. He looked at the time, 10:45, he didn’t have enough time for a fight and enough sleep for tomorrow. Suga was coming over tomorrow, he couldn’t fight then, so that leaves Thursday. He could talk to The Wolf before he leaves for Tokyo, maybe he knows about the fight scene there. 

While Daichi waited for the tofu to set he went and started packing for his trip to Tokyo. He put most of his wrapping tape in his bag, sweatpants, a hoodie, clothes and clothes, he’d put more of the daily routine stuff in his bag later. He looked at the time, 11:23, time to check on the tofu. 

He checked the recipe. It didn’t really say much about what to do afterwards, just a joyful Enjoy! He’d love to enjoy tomorrow night though. He pinched his nose. This was why Daichi never cooked. Still pinching his nose, Daichi walked into the other room where his mom shuffled some paper work. 

“Uhm, mom. What do you do with tofu after you’re done making it?” Daichi asked standing stiff in the middle of his mother’s study. She turned around with a questionable look on her face. 

“Well, I guess the logical thing to do would be to eat it, don’t you think Daichi?” his mother said with a laugh. He kind of chucked too. 

“I made it for tomorrow night. What do I do with it now though? Or do I have to make it again?” Daichi said, arms straight at his sides. His mother raised an eyebrow. 

“You never make dinner, who’s coming over tomorrow?” His mother asked. He never told her, He guessed it didn’t matter if he had asked beforehand if Suga could come over, but his parents liked Suga, so then again it wouldn’t have mattered. 

“Oh, right. I invited Sugawara over for dinner tomorrow night.” He said. He wanted to confide in his mother. _Suga seems upset, what do I do? He doesn’t want me to pay for food, do you think tofu is okay? Do you think the tofu will make him feel better? How do I ask him what’s wrong?_

“Ah,” his mother said smiling, “I like Sugawara; he has the nicest smile. I don’t think I will be home tomorrow night, however, I would like to try your tofu another time.” 

Oh that’s right. The tofu, that’s why he came in, “Right, so about the tofu-” 

“Yes, yes, the tofu. Put it in cold water and place in the fridge, I believe,” she said with a thoughtful look, finger on chin, “It will be good for tomorrow.” 

What a relief. He didn’t like tofu that much to have it two nights in a row. He thanked his mother and headed back into the kitchen. He took the tofu out of the box and placed it into a glass pan and poured cold water into the pan and put it in the fridge. Well, he had to move things around in the fridge to fit the pan, but he did it, he made tofu.


	8. 50/50

“So are your parents going to be home tonight?” Suga asked Daichi during their lunch. They were standing together in the hall, well they were standing with Tanaka who ran off when Noya ran by and started a game of tag. 

“My mother said she wasn’t going to be home, I’m not sure if my father is going to be home or not. My mother did say that she was sad she wasn’t going to see you though.” Daichi added in that last part, he liked to fluff his family. 

“Aw,” Suga smiled, “I love your mom. I’m excited.” Suga clapped his hands together. 

“Oh! I have a surprise at the house for you, by the way.” Daichi said. He watched as Suga’s face turned bright pink. Suga’s reflexes kicked in and he laughed and punched Daichi in the stomach a few times. Daichi thought he would be used to it by now, never, he’d never get used to Suga’s punches. 

After practice, Suga was so excited that he cleaned up and got dressed way before Daichi had even finished practice really. 

“Oi, Suga-san,” Noya called out to him, being the only two who were ready to leave practice, “Got a hot date tonight or something? You were as riled up as me and Hinata during practice.” 

Suga smiled and threw up his signature peace sign. He thought Noya would keep it quiet, and he did, his eyes widened, but he quickly smiled and raised his hand in a peace sign too. Soon after the rest of the team joined them and they all started walking home together. 

They were around the convenience store when Tanaka had started to call out, “Does anyone want to get some-” 

Noya had elbowed Tanaka in the ribs, the taller boy threw his arms out to catch his balance and stared at Noya. 

“What did you-” Tanaka started to say, not really say, but it wasn’t yelling, but it was loud, it was Tanaka. Noya put his finger up to his lips. Tanaka stared at him in confusion, he didn’t understand but he kept quiet, even though his stomach didn’t. Suga had walked ahead with Daichi, he looked back and winked at Noya, and Noya gave him a thumbs up. Tanaka looked at Noya, Noya looked at Tanaka, Tanaka sort of understood. Daichi saw Suga looking back and decided to stop. 

“Should we wait up for them?” Daichi asked. 

“No, no, I’m sure they’re just talking about volleyball.” Suga said and waved his hand at Daichi. Daichi felt hesitant, he didn’t like leaving his team behind, although he was just leaving behind by the convenience store. 

“Well, maybe I’ll go buy them pork buns then.” Daichi said with a shrug of his shoulders. Suga started to panic, this wasn’t himself. He wanted to spend time with Daichi. They often spent time together, but it was usually in the company of a classmate or a teammate, he guessed that was the downside of being captain and vice-captain of the volleyball team. 

“Goodnight, Daichi-san!” Noya called and waved his arm over his head. He must’ve whispered something to the other guys, Suga thought, because all the rest of the team waved their hands. He thought he heard Hinata say something about wanting to get something to eat, but that was quickly interrupted by Tanaka slapping the back of his head. 

“See you tomorrow!” Suga called back with a wave and another wink. Daichi waved his hand in confusion. Suga wanted to get a move on so he placed his hand on Daichi back and pushed him along. 

Daichi’s house was completely dark when they arrived, he guessed his father got stuck in the city on duty and couldn’t make it home. They both slipped their shoes off and put slippers on. 

“Sooo,” Suga dragged out, “What’s the surprise?” 

Daichi smiled. The bottom of Suga’s stomach tingled with excitement. He knew neither of Daichi’s parents were home, maybe Daichi had something to tell him. Which he did. 

“Okay, stay in here,” Daichi instructed Suga to sit down and wait for him, “I’ll be right back.” 

Suga couldn’t see what Daichi was doing when he walked into the kitchen. Daichi pulled out the tofu that he had made the previous night. He placed the slab of tofu onto a serving plate. He looked at it. It looked sad. Pathetic. He sliced it up into cubes, he tried one. It was definitely tofu alright. He looked at it, he poked a cube with his finger. There was something else that he should add to it. 

Suga sat in the room by himself humming, looking around the room. Daichi’s house was always decorated so well. He wasn’t envious of Daichi’s parent’s wealth, no, that wasn’t it, he just felt lacking. He wondered what Daichi was doing. He had disappeared in the kitchen a couple of minutes ago and hasn’t come out since. Daichi didn’t know his way around a kitchen, and Suga knew that. He knew that Daichi knew how to make tea and rice, thank god, but that was about it. 

“Do you need any help in there?” Suga called out. 

Daichi wasn’t panicking before, but he started to panic after Suga asked if he needed any help because Daichi most certainly did need help, just not from Suga. How long had he been in the kitchen anyway? 

“No, no,” Daichi poked his head out and put on a smile, “Just a few more minutes.” 

A few more minutes?! What was he thinking? He needed a few more hours. What could he possibly do to make this work? He should’ve thought about this earlier. If anyone said that Daichi was a prepared person, he could fight that with proof now. He couldn’t look up a recipe now. So what—Kuroo. He could text Kuroo and ask. Kuroo always replied fast, he would know what to do. 

_How do you serve tofu_

Okay, maybe if he started boiling water for tea, Suga wouldn’t think anything of how long it was taking Daichi. He started boiling water. Then he received a text, oh thank goodness. 

_Nice, I’m guessing you didn’t prepare it beforehand so just fry it in a pan a little bit with some salt and sauce. Whatever’s in your fridge._

Daichi guessed that helped. He slabbed the tofu onto a pan and started frying it, he added some salt and looked in his fridge. Well, there was a lot of sauces. He looked for a hot sauce. Glasses of sauce clinked together while tofu sizzled and popped. Then the water for the tea started to whistle. Oh jeez. 

“Are you sure you don’t need any help in there?” Suga said with a chuckle. Daichi pulled a bottle out of the fridge and another fell out and onto the floor, making a noise that sounded worse than it actually was. 

“Yes! I’m fine!” Daichi yelled over the noise of everything happening in the kitchen. Okay, sauce back in the fridge, put the right sauce on the tofu, move the tofu around so it doesn’t stick to the pan, make tea quickly, stir tofu again, it looked like it was browning, should he take it off? Yes, take the tofu off, and Daichi was finished. He stared at the tofu. It still looked pathetic. He texted Kuroo back while he had the chance. 

_Thanks, that was a close call._

He received a text back immediately. 

_Anything for you Sawamura, now have fun tonight ;)_

Whatever that meant, he always had fun with Suga. 

While Suga sat in the next room over listening to the noise Daichi was making in the kitchen, he texted Noya saying thanks, and Noya had texted him back quickly. 

_Of course Suga-san!! Goodluck and have fun!!_

Suga had thought about calling to Daichi one last time to make sure that he actually didn’t need any help, but Daichi walked into the room carrying two cups of tea. He sat one down in front of Suga and one across Suga where he would sit. He left the room and came back again, this time holding two plates in his hands. Suga thought he looked upset. 

“I tried my best,” Daichi said as he placed the plates on the table, “I honestly have no idea how it tastes.” 

Suga smiled and Daichi and then took a look at the plate. Was that…tofu? Suga swallowed the lump in his throat. 

“Well, we’ll never know until we try.” Suga said with a smile. Of course Suga said it with a smile. Suga was nice enough not to tell Daichi that it looked actually terrifying. There were no words to describe this, Daichi thought, he should’ve just made rice, or noodles, he knew how to make rice and noodles. Suga said his thanks and slowly moved his chop sticks to pick up a piece of tofu. Daichi felt sweat pour down his neck, he rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. He was sweating from cooking over the hot stove, of course, it wasn’t like he was nervous, of course, he had just cooked tofu for the first time and totally nailed it, of course, no reason to be nervous, of course. 

Suga was going to act like everything was normal. This was normal, he loved tofu. It looked like Daichi had cooked it to the right temperature, he wasn’t sure what that smell was though, but he was expecting something spicy. 

Daichi watched Suga, gaze unwavering until Suga stuck a piece of tofu in his mouth, then he clenched his eyes shut. He couldn’t watch Suga’s reaction. Suga watched Daichi flinch, which he thought was funny so he laughed. Daichi opened an eye to peak at Suga’s reaction. 

“So?” Daichi muttered. Suga laughed even more. Daichi covered his face with his hands to hide his reddening face. 

“Daichi,” Suga started off, “Why did you make tofu?” 

Daichi peaked through his fingers and finally laid his hands down in his lap. He looked Suga in his eyes and sighed. 

“You like tofu” Daichi said confidently, which made Suga laugh again, “You could at least tell me what’s so funny.” 

Suga waved his hands dismissively, and said, “Nothing is funny, I’m sorry,” another chuckle from Suga, “It’s just that you make perfectly good rice, and you made tofu, just because I like it?” 

Daichi nodded his head. Daichi stared at the tofu, he might as well try it. He picked a piece up and ate it, it didn’t taste like anything. It tasted more like the bottom of the pan than it did the hot sauce he put on it. He did put some kind of sauce on it, right…? 

“Okay,” Daichi said putting his fist on his hips, “Let’s go make some rice!” 

Daichi and Suga headed into the kitchen, with Suga’s help, Daichi could make more than just rice, he could make rice balls. 

“Ya know, if you really want to know how to make tofu, I can teach you.” Suga said with a wink. Daichi blushed of embarrassment. 

“No, you’re right. I can make perfectly good rice.” Daichi said grinning. Suga went over to the fridge. Suga had no problem making himself at home in Daichi’s house, or anyone’s house. Suga felt comfortable anywhere. Yet, why did Suga look so suspicious? 

“Do you want a snack while we wait for the rice to cook?” Suga asked, bending over to get a better look at what the fridge held. Daichi looked over to Suga, and why is Suga bending over like that? A simple crouch would’ve been fine. Maybe he’s just stretching his hamstrings while he’s getting a look in the fridge. What a great vice-captain he had. 

“Sure, a snack sounds good.” Daichi said while Suga hummed and pushed the contents of the fridge around. 

“Do you want, hmm, cucumber,” Suga paused, “Or strawberries?” 

Daichi stared at Suga. Suga turned his head to look at Daichi. There was a lump in Daichi throat. Suga, illuminated by the dull light of the refrigerator, was still bent at the hips, one hand gripping the freezer handle above him and the other leaning against one of the fridge shelves. 

“Whatever’s fine with you.” Daichi’s voiced cracked, he cleared his throat immediately after. Suga turned his gaze back to the fridge, bent down further to grab something off of the bottom shelf. Daichi averted his gaze to the rice machine. 

“Hmm, let’s have,” Suga hummed, Daichi started to look at Suga from the corner of his eye, nope, nope, he was not going to look at Suga, nope, nope, “cucumber.” 

Daichi thought his head was going to explode, he grunted in agreement to their chosen snack. Suga grabbed a cucumber out of the fridge and pulled a cutting board out and started to slice the cucumber. All without saying another word. Daichi had been standing in the same spot, leaning against the counter. Suga stood maybe a foot away from him, not saying anything, slicing the cucumber. Daichi swallowed. Suga finished slicing the cucumber and sprinkled salt over it. He looked at Daichi and put a slice into his mouth. 

What. 

What. 

Suga smiled at Daichi after that and went to check on the rice. Daichi didn’t even think he had much of an appetite anymore, but he grabbed a slice of cucumber anyway. 

There wasn’t much talking during the rice ball making process. Daichi felt too nervous, and Suga, well, Suga was unpredictable. The silence was normal like always, but Daichi didn’t want it to be silent. He wanted to talk to Suga, what could he even say. 

“Do you wanna do some flavors?” Suga asked about half way through the batch of rice. They both looked at each other, and Suga laughed. 

“Why are you laughing now?” 

“Why do you keep asking me that? Oh, but I actually do have a reason this time.” Suga said placing his hand on Daichi’s forehead, rubbing off some rice that was stuck to him. Daichi stared at the rice in Suga’s hand. 

“How did you get rice on your forehead?” Suga chuckled. Daichi actually laughed. Daichi’s laugh was not necessarily a rare thing, but it was so nice when he did laugh because well, he wasn’t uptight but he always had so much stress on him. Suga would remember that he laughed because he had rice stuck to his forehead. 

“Okay, okay,” Daichi said as he slowly stopped laughing, “Let’s do some flavors. I have no idea what I’m doing though.” 

“Don’t worry, I do.” Suga smiled, that smile where his eyes close. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Daichi said with a huff, but his smiled was plastered on his face. Suga punched him on the shoulder, and turned to go get more ingredients. Daichi rubbed his shoulder. He probably had more bruisers from Suga punching him playfully than he did from any of his matches. 

“Please, sit down, relax.” Suga said and bowed to Daichi as if he were Suga’s guest. 

“Why thank you, sir.” Daichi said and bowed back to Suga. He cleared a spot on the counter and hoisted himself up and watched Suga finish making the rest of the rice balls. It didn’t even take him that long. Daichi thought he spent more time trying to cook the tofu earlier than it took Suga to make all the rice balls. Suga placed a rice ball on a small plate and handed it to Daichi. 

“Taste test. Guess what flavor it is!” He cheered. Probably better than his tofu Daichi thought. He took a bite and instantly knew what it was. 

“This is plum. You should have saved this for last, it’s sweet.” Daichi contemplated. 

“That doesn’t matter. Just between you and me, I only made salmon and plum rice balls.” Suga said whispering to Daichi as if it really were a secret just between the two of them. Daichi gave him a thumbs up and finished eating his rice ball. They ate all the rice balls their stomachs would hold until they both somehow ended up sitting on the floor, backs against the cabinets. Suga looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. 10 o’clock. Suga stretched his arms and yawned. 

“Daichi,” Suga yawned again and leaned his head on Daichi’s shoulder, “I think it’s time for me to go home. It’s late.” 

Daichi looked at the clock, it was sort of late, “Okay, do you want me to walk you halfway?” 

“Like always.” 

Suga stood up and offered Daichi his hands. After Daichi took them, Suga grunted as he helped Daichi up as if Daichi weighed twice as much. 

“Oi, maybe I won’t walk you halfway home then.” Daichi said as he stood on his own two feet. Suga laughed and winked at him as he headed toward the door. Daichi followed him. 

Daichi and Suga didn’t live that far away from each other, so they always walked the other halfway home and whoever got home first texted the other so they knew they got home safely. Daichi made sure he was always home first, Suga would always forget to text him and most likely passed out as soon as he walked through the door of his house. 

There was a slight chill in the air, and it was quiet except the sound of crickets and the breeze that infiltrated the air and the sound of their footsteps, well mainly Daichi’s, he was insecure about it once he noticed how heavy he was walking. He would either try to joke about it or he would try and step lighter without Suga noticing, but Suga always noticed. 

The halfway point, they had decided was a telephone pole. This telephone pole was always covered in posters advertising something be sold, alerting of a lost pet, or reminding of events happening in town. It always had more than all the rest of the telephone poles because it was at a four way intersection. They had reached their destination. Suga had taken a step further than Daichi and quickly turned around to face him. 

“Thanks for inviting me over again, even if you can’t cook.” Suga smiled, and Daichi sighed, Suga was never going to let this down. 

“But I tried and-” 

“And that’s all that matters.” Suga finished his sentence for him. Suga resisted the urge the punch Daichi, it was his sign of affection, he couldn’t help it, but he resisted, and resisted, and gave Daichi a hug instead. Daichi was taken by surprise by the sudden embrace and didn’t hug back right away. Suga felt Daichi’s arms, oh god Daichi’s arms, wrap around him. With every hug, there’s the moment where it’s time to let go, there may be lingerers, and there may be some who let go too soon, but Daichi knew the moment to let go, and once he and Suga let each other go from their hug, Suga took a few steps back and thanked Daichi again for making him dinner, even though he didn’t really make dinner. Daichi wanted to be a lingerer right then. 

Daichi watched Suga walk for a few steps and he turned around and headed home himself. He pulled his phone out from his pocket and saw a few texts from Kuroo 

_How’d the tofu turn out?_

And 

_More importantly, how’d your night turn out? ;)_

Why did Kuroo have to make everything seem so... promiscuous sounding? 

_Well, I didn’t put enough sauce on the tofu so it tasted bland, but my night was good, thank you for asking._

Daichi put his phone back in his pocket and jogged the rest of the way home so he knew he’d hear from Suga. Once he got in the door of his house, he ignored the text from Kuroo and sent Suga a message. 

_I’m home. Are you home?_

He looked at Kuroo’s text. 

_Jeez gramps, well I’m glad you had fun._

Daichi frowned. Gramps? He definitely did not act like a grandpa, did he? He texted him back. 

_You want me to be your grandpa? That’s weird._

Daichi was usually up later than this, he felt restless. He walked around his house to see if his father had come home while he was out. Every room in the house was empty. Daichi stood in the door frame of the last room he had checked in. The house was completely quiet. He wondered if they had cleaned the kitchen after they were done. Were there leftovers? He shuffled his feet on his way into the kitchen. There was rice everywhere. He leaned his head back and groaned. He checked his phone. Suga had texted him back. 

_Yep! Thanks for everything, I miss hanging out with you like that. Goodnight! :)_

Daichi repeated his message in his head over and over. _I miss hanging out with you like that. I miss. With you. Hanging out. Like that. I miss hanging out with you like that. I miss hanging out with you. With you. I miss_. I miss hanging out with you too, Daichi thought. He couldn’t say that though. But guilt plagued his mind. Was he really fighting that much more lately?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I forgot to update last night! My final projects for my classes have taken over my life. Thanks for reading!


	9. The Silence

It was the day after Suga came over for dinner, Daichi had a long night; he couldn’t sleep. He felt guilty. He knew how happy Suga was over at his house. He knew how different he had been acting. 

It was lunch time. Daichi sat back in his chair and Suga sat on the next desk over. They talked about school and grades and oh- Daichi forgot. 

“I forgot to mention, I’m going to Tokyo this weekend.” Daichi told Suga, whose face was frozen in a sort of half smile. 

“Oh fun!” Suga gave a full smile, “So you’re staying at Kuroo’s house then?” 

Daichi nodded his head. Suga could tell he was excited. He was actually smiling, not with his teeth, but he was still smiling, wide eyed. Suga didn’t know what else to say really, so he did the thing he was best at, smile. 

“Oh, but I’m leaving Friday after school, so I won’t be able to attend practice. I haven’t told the team yet, I’ll stop by before I leave tomorrow, you’ll be in charge.” Daichi said, and to this, Suga’s eyes brightened. Sure, he was going to miss Daichi, but Suga never got to play in games anymore really, but he always had a somewhat clever mind and would love to share his ideas with the team. He didn’t have much time to share them with Daichi lately, and Daichi always had a plan of his own, but Suga had his own ideas, and the team also liked Suga, so he was excited. 

After practice, Daichi, Suga, Asahi, Noya, and Tanaka all walked together. Daichi felt an elbow in his ribs. 

“I think you should tell them now.” Suga whispered in his ear. Noya and Tanaka eyed each other knowingly. Daichi looked at Suga hesitantly. 

“If you think so,” Daichi said and stopped walking, everyone stopped with him, “Okay, I have some news.” 

Tanaka and Noya were about to jump out of their skin. All of them were in a lumpy circle. Daichi clapped his hands. 

“I’m not coming to practice tomorrow,” Daichi said, Tanaka and Noya’s faces dropped, “I’m going to Tokyo to visit Kuroo and visit a university. Suga is going to be in charge tomorrow.” 

The three other boys clapped and cheered for Suga. 

“Yes! Congrats Suga-san!” Noya and Tanaka cheered together. 

“Suga, I’m so happy for you.” Asahi said putting his hand softly on Suga’s arm. Suga blushed from all the praise. Daichi saw Asahi’s hand on Suga, and Suga’s reaction. 

“So I expect everyone to do their best, including you, Azumane.” Daichi crossed his arms over his chest. Asahi jumped in his place and rubbed the back of his head. 

“I bet Daichi-san is really going there to gather information on Nekoma.” Noya Said to Tanaka. 

“Oooh!! Daichi-san is so clever!” Tanaka said and faced Daichi for high-fives. Daichi shook his head. 

“No, just to look at universities. Well, maybe I’ll find out some information.” Daichi said with a slight grin. Tanaka and Noya both marveled in Daichi’s presence, they were star-struck. 

“Daichi!” Suga said with hands on his hips. Daichi laughed and rubbed the back of his head. 

Once Daichi got home, he changed into sweats, wrapped his hands and left for the abandoned house. 

*** 

Daichi walks into the house and walks downs the stairs to the basement and scans the basement for The Wolf, that is until he hears The Wolf cackle. He heads over to The Wolf and his group of fighters. 

“Ah! Here’s the fresh-meat I was talking to you guys about.” The Wolf says when he sees Daichi. The other men hoot and holler at Daichi. This is new for him, this cheer is just for him, not for a team, but just for him. 

“I told you not to come back, didn’t I?” The Wolf growls at him, and then laughs, “So you come back to fight, huh?” 

“I did,” Daichi nods his head, “But I wanted to ask you a question.” 

The Wolf raises an eyebrow at his group of fighters, “They always come to me for advice, youngins. Well? Out with it.” 

“I’m going to Tokyo this weekend to visit a friend who also fights. Do you know what it’s like down there?” 

The Wolf rubs his chin. His group of fighters stare at him in anticipation of his answer, Daichi can tell that these were the men who wanted to grow up and be a fighter like The Wolf. 

“Depends on where ya go, kid, but I’m guessing your friend is a kid too, so wherever he’s fightin’ can’t be that bad. Does he go somewhere to fight, or does he _streetfight_?” The Wolf asks. Daichi assumed he went somewhere like this, but he was never too sure with Kuroo. The Wolf adds, “You can play it safe if you go somewhere, but if it’s actual streetfightin’, there are some dirty fighters out there.” 

The area around The Wolf was silent, some of the men nodding their heads, the others taking a mental note of Tokyo’s fight scene. 

“Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.” Daichi says, his formalness kicking in. The Wolf laughs and hits Daichi on the arm and tells him to go sign up for a fight. Daichi walks over to the sign-up sheet and signs up for the earliest time slot. He’s fighting Silence. 

He waits with The Wolf and his gang before his fight. His fight is announced, and howls come from the chorus of The Wolf and his pack. Daichi grins and punches the air. He steps into the ring, and he’s alone. Wait, no he’s not. There’s a man of Daichi’s stature standing right across from him. When…? Oh that’s right—Silence. Both fighters are in their stances. Waiting, waiting, waiting, wait— 

“FIGHT!” 

There’s a chaser and a runner in fights. How can Daichi chase someone when he can’t even hear where the guy is? This is a cement floor, how did he not hear this man step away from him, the fight just started. Daichi pivots on his feet to check out his surroundings, that’s when he accidently dodges a punch thrown from Silence who is directly behind him. Daichi stares at the guys arm as it flies by his face. Daichi takes this moment to swing his fist in the direction of the punch. He thought his punch had landed since his arm stopped moving forward, no, Silence was holding Daichi’s arm. Daichi’s opponent pulls him down by the arm. Daichi stumbles forward, trying not to fall, and once he has his balance, his back against the edge of the ring, he throws his arms up, not ready to give up yet. Being at the edge of the ring, Daichi could see his opponent, no matter where he went. This was a good place to be, Daichi thought. The edge of the ring, this is where he had to be, he needed to be chased this fight in order to win. This is his strategy. He needs to be chased in order to win this fight. 

Daichi stands at the edge of the ring, his opponent staring at him, knowing this is his weakness. Silence bounces back and forth, footing so quick it doesn’t make a sound. What shoes is he wearing? Daichi knows he needs to stay on the edge of the ring, how could he lure his opponent to him? 

Daichi inches his way along the edge of the ring to where his opponent is closer. Daichi bounces in the ring and back to the edge, every time he lunges inward, his opponent closes the gap inch by inch. Daichi’s plan is working. He paces back and forth on the edge of the ring, lunging in and back out, luring his opponent in. Once his opponent is a few steps away from him, he lunges forward, waits for his opponent to take a step in, and then he takes another step out instead of going back to the edge of the ring, this allows Daichi to land a punch on Silence’s face. Does the punch land? It doesn’t make a sound. Where is he now? Daichi retreats back to the edge of the ring. 

The chase is on, his opponent starts it by immediately coming after Daichi, without much warning however. The punch lands on Daichi’s stomach, that’s when Daichi realizes that his opponents punches don’t land hard. Maybe this punch was just a fluke. He’ll stay towards the edge of the ring for now. After the punch, his opponent had retreated back into the middle of the ring. This was going to be a long fight. This wasn’t a fight for the lead, it was a fight to be chased. 

Daichi wanted to try a new method, Silence probably knows his method of lunging into the ring and retreating back by now. Daichi braced himself, the last punch he took was light, maybe it would be the same this time. 

He lunges into the ring, his opponent lunges toward Daichi, Daichi takes a quick step back, and another two steps forward along with a punch. Daichi throws an undercut and it hits his opponent’s stomach. Silence takes a step back, absorbing the punch Daichi had just landed on him. This was his chance, Daichi thought. Silence covered his stomach from the previous punch, so Daichi throws his punch toward his opponents face. A cheap shot, he knows this, but it is the only option at the moment. His opponent is forced to take a step back. Daichi takes his chances and throws another punch towards his opponent’s lower abdomen. It hits, but his opponent retreats back, too far back for Daichi to land another hit. 

Silence takes a moment as he stands across the other side of the ring to stare at Daichi and recuperate himself. Daichi knows he has worn his opponent down, he might not have the heaviest punch, but he can making a lasting impact for the fight. Daichi wasn’t sure how he should go about the fight now. He knows that if he didn’t make his move now, that his opponent would soon recover from his previous punches. Should he just go for it? What has he got to lose? Well, this would be his second fight in a row that he would have lost, then his confidence would plummet right before heading to Tokyo. 

Daichi knows that if his opponent is against the ring than he wouldn’t be going anywhere. Maybe this was his chance, it didn’t matter anymore because he was already bouncing back and forth ready to pounce. Daichi had to be as quick as his opponent, as fast as his opponent, and as stealthy as the Silence. He tried his best, although both Daichi and Silence had the same height and weight class, they still have different skills. Daichi slinks his way across the ring, sliding from left to right, attempting to psych his opponent out. He’s got a plan, he’s going to double step once he’s close enough to get a hit. Two more steps, step to the right, one step to the left, half a step to the right and a wide step to the left. Daichi throws a right-handed punch, and—Silence caught his punch again? Daichi stares at his opponent who’s holding Daichi’s wrist. Silence has his head tilted back and staring at Daichi. How does he catch a punch? How long have they been standing like this? Daichi knows that his right arm is restrained, there’s no way that Silence is going to let Daichi’s arm go— 

Daichi’s eyes are out of focus, and he feels his lunch trying to make a comeback. He swallows hard. He’s bent over his opponent’s arm that’s in contact with his stomach. Daichi didn’t even see the punch coming. He looks up at Silence who was already staring into Daichi’s eyes, that’s when Daichi feels his stomach being punched again. Eye’s out of focus, again. He coughs and clenches his eyes shut. Daichi grabs his opponents arm with his free hand, he waits a moment and yanks his opponent down to the ground. His opponent falls, never releasing Daichi’s arm, he brings Daichi down with him, fortunately for Daichi he lands on top of his opponent. Once Silence hits the ground, his grip on Daichi’s wrist loosens, and Daichi yanks his arm free. He punches his opponent in the face, a warning hit practically, he punches his opponent’s chest forcing all the air out of his opponent’s lungs, a punch to his opponent’s stomach, and another, and another. Daichi is not silent about this, with every contact made he grunts letting everyone know he’s exerting all his force. Daichi loses track of how much more he punches his opponent until the fight is called. 

He sits on top of his opponent until he feels his arm pulled up. The announcer. Daichi has won. He won. He hears the hollering from The Wolf and the other men. His winnings are shoved in his arms and he watches as another man pulls his opponent off the ring. He walks over to The Wolf who slings an arm around Daichi, he is also saying something to his men but Daichi doesn’t hear exactly what. This is why Daichi loves to fight. The fight happens now. He loses himself, but he has total control. It takes him a minute to register what exactly The Wolf is saying. 

“Oi, fresh-meat, you’re pretty clever for bein’ so young.” The Wolf says punching one of Daichi’s shoulders, it doesn’t hurt how Suga’s punches do though. Daichi thought about what Suga might be doing right now. What time was it anyway? Daichi notices The Wolf staring at him. He rubs the back of his head. 

“Thanks, it’s all natural.” Daichi says with a shrug of his shoulders. The Wolf laughs at this. 

“Listen to this cocky punk!” The Wolf laughs more. Daichi thanks The Wolf again for the advice he was given earlier and excuses himself for the night. 

*** 

After Daichi left the abandoned house, he walked home slowly. He checked his phone for the time, 11:14, he still had things he needed to pack for his trip. He was upset that he was going to have to miss practice tomorrow, but he was excited that he was going to fight somewhere else, also it would be nice to make a friend in Kuroo. Daichi finally made it home and finished packing for his trip for the next day. He tossed and turned in bed that night.


	10. Tokyo

“Ok! Everyone, I have an announcement!” Daichi projected out into the gymnasium, he stood in his school uniform, Suga stood by his side but in his gym clothes. The team gathered around Daichi, Asahi, Tanaka, and Noya all knew what the announcement was, but the rest of the team looked worried, or distressed seeing Daichi in his school uniform. Daichi looked over to Suga who smiled carefree as usual. Daichi cleared his throat. 

“Suga will be taking over-” Daichi started. 

“WHAATTT??” Hinata screeched. Kageyama smacked the back of his head, Daichi heard Tsukkishima sucked his teeth. 

“As I was saying, Suga will be taking over practice for _today_. I’m going to Tokyo to visit colleges with Kuroo.” 

“Espionage.” Noya whispered in Hinata’s ear. Hinata, starry-eyed, cooed at Daichi. 

“No, no, I’m not spying,” Daichi dismissed, half of the team frowned in response, “but I have to leave now, so I expect you all to be on your best behavior for Suga.” 

Daichi excused himself as Suga walked him outside the gym. 

“Have fun, but don’t have too much fun without me.” Suga winked. This made Daichi smile. Suga would be more than fine without Daichi than Daichi would be without Suga. 

“I’ll try not to.” Daichi said. He wasn’t sure how to depart ways with Suga. Suga had hugged him after they hung out the other night. He was leaving for the weekend, he’d be back. Hugs were nice, Daichi thought, especially from Suga, but hugs were foreign to Daichi. It’s not like his parents never hugged him when he was little, but they were hard-workers, and always tired. 

“I’ll take care of the team. Come back in one piece, ok, captain?” Suga said and he threw up his peace sign as he walked back into the gym. Daichi waved. 

Daichi went home first to grab his bags and then he walked to the train station. He texted Kuroo to let him know that he was going to be on his way soon. Kuroo, of course, texted back right away. 

_I’m already here waiting for you. See you soon ;)_

Daichi’s trained arrived once he read the message. He boarded the train. He got off after a couple of stops and boarded another train. He stood most of the train rides. He was lucky enough to get a seat at one point, but he saw an elderly lady get on the train, so he offered her his seat. She of course cooed at the offer and continued to talk to Daichi for the rest of the train ride. 

“Oh, where are you going?” 

“I’m going to Tokyo to visit a friend and visit universities.” 

“A handsome young man like you visiting a friend in the city? Don’t get yourself in too much trouble,” The old lady said, Daichi blushed, “who’s your friend?” 

“Oh, well he’s not really my friend,” Daichi started off, the old lady raised her eyebrows and smiled, “I mean, he’s my friend I guess, kind of, he’s actually our rival volleyball team’s captain.” 

“Well that’s nice to see you getting along then.” She smiled at him. He looked up at the next station. It was the station that Kuroo was waiting for him at. 

“Yes, thank you. This is my stop. Thank you for talking with me.” Daichi said bowing to the elderly lady. 

“Oh, no, thank you,” She waved her hand, “Have fun with your…friend.” 

He stood up straight and blushed and left the train. He looked at his phone, he’d been underground for so long he wasn’t sure how late it was. He’d be getting out of practice by now. He walked toward the stairs leaving the station. 

“Yo! Sawamura!” Daichi heard a familiar voice. He looked left and right until he saw him. How could he not, Kuroo was fairly tall. He waved to him. They walked to each other, Kuroo looked around and wrinkled his nose. 

“Let’s get out of here.” Kuroo said and nodded toward the stairs. Daichi nodded in agreement. They walked up into the city. It was dark, but not as dark as it would’ve been at home. The streetlights and the storefronts kept the city illuminated. Daichi looked up into the sky. There were no stars, he frowned. Kuroo looked up with him, and then looked down to Daichi. 

“I’m sure you’re hungry and wanna sit down for a moment. Do you wanna go out to eat?” Kuroo asked. 

“Sure, lead the way.” Daichi said, Kuroo smirked and nodded his head the way he wanted to walk. As Daichi followed Kuroo, he looked all around him. 

“So,” Daichi said pointing, “Is _that_ the sky tower?” 

Kuroo stared at Daichi, and shook his head and laughed. 

“No, but we can see that tomorrow if you want,” Kuroo offered, “Although I do have plans for us tomorrow, but we can squeeze it in.” 

Daichi looked up to Kuroo. Kuroo already made plans for them? 

“What do you have planned for us?” Daichi asked. Kuroo grinned. 

“A little excited are we?” Kuroo raised an eyebrow, but lowered it immediately, “Well if you are really that excited, I guess I can tell you. First we have to take breakfast over to Kenma or he might not eat at all tomorrow. We’ll visit Hosei, that’s the one you wanted to go to right? The law one?” 

Daichi wasn’t surprised that Kuroo knew it was a law school, Kuroo was probably top of his class and was thinking about going to Hosei also. 

“Mm, yeah, that’s the one.” Daichi confirmed. 

“I guess you’d be an alright lawyer, Sawamura.” Kuroo grinned. Daichi wasn’t the lawyer type, but it was either that or doctor. 

“Just wait until you see me fight tonight.” Daichi said in return. Kuroo let out a single laugh and he stopped walking. 

“We’re here.” He said and guided Diachi into the restaurant. Once they sat down Daichi checked his phone. He had a message from Suga. Daichi sighed, something happened at practice, he knew it already. Tanaka probably finally had it with Tsukkishima and actually punched him. Daichi should’ve waited until practice was over to leave. He finally opened the message. There was a picture attached. It was a team picture. 

_Have fun, we already miss you!_

Daichi looked at the picture and smiled. Suga was in the middle, smiling so hard his eyes were closed, he also had up his peace sign. But he was also leaning against Asahi. Asahi who was smiling with his shoulders hunched. He looked away from them and looked at everyone else. Noya was sitting on Tanaka’s shoulders, Hinata was midair and Kageyama had his knees bent like he tried to jump but didn’t make it, Daichi laughed, and— 

“Who’s making you smile?” Kuroo asked with his head resting on the back of his hand. 

“Oh no,” Daichi said, “Suga sent me a group picture of the team.” 

Daichi turned his phone to face Kuroo. Kuroo grinned. 

“How sweet. How was your team without you today?” 

“I don’t know. They all love Suga, so probably good. Looks like everyone is alive in the picture, so I’m not worrying too much.” Daichi looked at the picture again. He heard Kuroo muffle a laugh. Daichi looked at him, Kuroo still had a grin on his face. 

“Sure the team loves Suga, but do you?” Kuroo asked. Daichi’s body tensed. 

“Wha—I don’t understand.” Daichi said as he cleared his throat. Kuroo didn’t say anything, but in response he raised his eyebrows a few times. Daichi felt heat raise from his stomach to his face. 

“No, no, I mean, I—I like Suga.” Daichi sputtered. 

“Like _like_?” Kuroo said as he stared into Daichi’s soul, he could feel his body on fire and he wanted to throw up, oh god, was he sweating? Play this cool, Daichi thought. So he laughed and rubbed the back of his head. 

“Suga is the best vice-captain I could ask for. Why are you so interested?” Daichi finally said, which wasn’t a lie, Suga was perfect, but why was Kuroo so interested in who Daichi liked? Kuroo’s grin widened. 

“No reason,” Kuroo shrugged, “Just curious.” 

After the boys ate, they headed to Kuroo’s house so Daichi could drop his bags off. Daichi was greeted with the familiar presence of an empty house. Although Kuroo’s family lived in an apartment, Daichi felt comfort in the dark emptiness of it. It was like home. 

“Are your parents at work?” Daichi asked. 

“Yeah,” Kuroo shrugged, Daichi also felt comfort in knowing this, living in the county but having fairly wealthy parents, but who were never home, was difficult; he hated thinking that he didn’t fit in, but he felt as if everyone else went home to a family while he went home to an empty house, maybe he could be good friends with Kuroo, and Kuroo continued to say, “Both of my parents work two jobs, I’m very grateful for them.” 

Daichi felt his stomach sink. Kuroo’s parents definitely worked harder than his own parents. Kuroo looked at Daichi and smiled. He understood what Kuroo went through, and he knew it sucked not having someone to call out to you when you walked through the door of your house, but he couldn’t understand his parents working two jobs, that was different. Daichi smiled back and Kuroo, and followed Kuroo back to his room to drop his bag off. 

“Oh, I need to change first.” Daichi said looking at his bag. Kuroo laid down on his bed and stared at his phone. 

“That’s fine, go ahead.” Kuroo said dismissively. Daichi stared at Kuroo. He means for me to just go ahead and changed here, doesn’t he, Daichi thought, or should he excuse himself into the bathroom? Daichi laughed at himself in his head, what was he thinking? He changes in front of the team all the time, just because it’s in front of Kuroo in Kuroo’s room, that didn’t make it any different. Yes it did. No, no, no, it didn’t. 

“Are you changing? I’ve made plans for us tonight also.” Kuroo said looking up from his phone. How long was Daichi thinking about changing, he probably looked so weird just standing there. 

“Oh yeah, just had something on my mind.” Daichi said and waved his hand. Kuroo raised an eyebrow, but Daichi didn’t see, he had already started to take his school uniform off and change. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Kuroo said, looking at Daichi who was now shirtless. Daichi looked over his shoulder. 

“Talk about what?” 

“Whatever was on your mind?” 

“Wha—Oh, no, no. It’s nothing.” 

“Okay, well, if you want to talk about it, I’m always here to listen.” 

“Thanks.” Daichi said with a smile and finished getting dressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I'm really excited to post the next chapter!! I hope you all are enjoying!


	11. Down and Dirty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I just thought I'd let you know that this chapter does have blood and alcohol in it. Thank you for reading! :)

Daichi liked walking around the city, although he couldn’t see the stars and the constellations, he liked seeing the city asterisms for a change. Store-fronts, apartments and condos, ambiguous buildings, police sirens, all of the lights. He wouldn’t be walking to go to a fight right now if this was his home, there was so much to experience, he thought, but he guessed that if he had lived his whole life here, he probably would have experienced it all by now. 

“So where are we fighting at?” Daichi asked. Kuroo turned his head to look at him, unlike Daichi he had been looking straight ahead unfazed by all the city lights. 

“A warehouse just a little outside the city. It’s fairly big and it’s a Friday night so there’s going to be a few fights going on.” Kuroo answered. Wow, a few fights going on at once? Was it that popular to fight in the city? 

“That’s impressive. I usually fight in the basement of an abandoned house so this’ll be different.” Daichi said, Kuroo laughed, but Kuroo actually laughed like what Daichi said was comedic. 

“That sounds pretty sad. Maybe I’ll come visit you sometime.” Kuroo stuck his tongue out. Daichi couldn’t tell if he was joking or not so he laughed it off. Daichi didn’t have his book bag on, Kuroo told him to put whatever Daichi needed in his bag. Daichi had wrapped his hands like he always does, Kuroo made fun of him, but then had asked if Daichi could wrap his hands too. Daichi felt like he won one over Kuroo since Kuroo had seemed embarrassed by it. If he was embarrassed, he didn’t show it now, it was like he was flaunting his hands. He usually had his hands in his pockets when they walked, but he swung them while he walked. 

“Why are you doing that with your hands?” Daichi asked. Kuroo looked down at his hands and furrowed his brow. 

“Doing what?” 

“Swinging them like that. You’ll attract too much attention.” Daichi scolded him. Kuroo frowned as he put his hands in his pockets. 

“Fine, I guess you’re right.” 

Daichi would never walk this long to get to a fight. The walk to the warehouse was at least twice as long the walk to get to the abandoned house. When they finally arrived, Daichi stared at how many people were actually in the warehouse. He looked up at Kuroo. 

“Why are there so many people here?” He asked Kuroo. Kuroo grinned. 

“Some fight, some place bets, some like to watch, support, mainly bets. So hey, if you just want to get a feel for the place tonight that’s all right, and then you can fight tomorrow--” 

“Oh no, I’m fighting tonight.” Daichi said triumphantly. His last win at home gave him the confidence boost he needed for this weekend. Kuroo raised an eyebrow and nodded for Daichi to follow him. 

Daichi walked two steps behind Kuroo as he watched the ongoing fights, there were two fights happening, but there were crowds around the fights, not just people hanging on the cement walls barely paying attention. Daichi looked up, there were people on the walk ways upstairs watching the fights, watching everything. Daichi assumed this is where the owners of the factory would be walking around during the work day. He looked back down, there were men in black t-shirts ominously standing, surveying everything. Daichi felt like a tourist, he couldn’t keep his eyes in one spot, he— 

Just ran into Kuroo who had apparently stopped walking. 

“Wanna touch me that badly, Sawamura?” Kuroo said with a sly grin. 

“Yeah, I’m itching to fight you.” Daichi retorted. Kuroo stuck his hands up and took a step back. 

“We all know that’s not the truth, Sawamura, but let me sign you up for a fight. What name do you fight under?” Kuroo asked. Daichi stared at him. Yeah, he had an alias that he fought under but he wasn’t prepared to tell anyone it, especially not Kuroo. 

“You do have a name that you fight under, right?” Kuroo asked him again. 

“Yes, I do.” Daichi confirmed, still staring Kuroo in the eye. 

“Well, are you gonna tell me it or,” Kuroo stopped and smiled, “Or do I already know what it is?” 

Daichi felt his ears go warm. He did, he already knew what it was. I mean, it was the first thing that came to Daichi’s mind when he signed up for his first fight. 

“Oh, and let me guess what yours is,” Daichi leaned into Kuroo and whispered, “Neko.” 

Kuroo now felt his own face go warm, he tried to frown as he stared at Daichi. After a moment, he curled his lips and turned to the sign-up sheet and signed Karasu in a slot. 

“All right, let’s go get you ready.” Kuroo said as he started to walk away, and Daichi followed as he had done the whole day. 

They had settled on a spot that wasn’t too crowded. Kuroo sat his bag down and leaned against the cement wall, now this felt more like home, except the floor wasn’t damp and moldy. 

“Are you going to fight tonight also?” Daichi asked as he sat down on the cement floor and stretched his legs. 

“Nah, I’m pretty excited to watch you fight. I will tomorrow though. Why, you wanna see me get down and dirty?” Kuroo provoked. Daichi eyed Kuroo up. 

“You would like that, huh?” Daichi said back. Kuroo grinned but kept his eyes up watching the fights. 

After about three or so fights were finished, Daichi heard his fight called. He stood up and Kuroo patted him on the back. 

“Go get ‘em, big guy.” Kuroo winked. Daichi nodded his head. This was going to be tougher than back home. Each step Daichi took, each heartbeat, each bead of sweat that soaked into the back of his shirt, Daichi felt more and more prepared. 

*** 

He steps into the ring, his opponent steps in the ring. His opponent is a few inches taller than him, and he’s lean, but his skin wraps tight around his muscles. Daichi could see veins popping out of places he didn’t know veins could pop out of, his opponent had at most 3% body fat on him. His stance is stiff, he is possibly an unexperienced fighter, maybe he’s just rough around the edges. 

There’s a little more space to fight here, since it’s not in the confinements of a basement. Daichi bounces on his feet, this, this fight, is now, and he is going to finish the fight. Daichi smiles, fist in front of his face, muscles tense, he is ready, and ready, and ready, and— 

“FIGHT!” 

Daichi wastes no time, he immediately goes for the hit, he fakes his opponent out with his right hand, and punches his opponents stomach with his left. It wasn’t as powerful as he’d like it to be, as he is right-handed, but it still hit. His opponent jumps back and staggers a few steps. Daichi jumps in place, his opponent is stiff again, knees bent and fists guarding his face. Is he…fighting a statue? Daichi furrowed his brows. Soon Daichi dances around his opponent, taunting him, begging his opponent to punch him, just swing come on, do it, hit him. 

Daichi finds himself at his opponents side, ribs wide open waiting to be punched. It’s a cheap shot when you’re fighting like this, ribs were meant to be broken, not used as a punching bag. 

He swings at his opponents ribs, but his fists hit open air. Daichi watches his opponent dodge, not swiftly, he’s more robotic, a quick pivot and Daichi feels his opponent’s fist colliding with his own ribs. Daichi takes a few steps to the side, but his fists are up and ready. He feels the pain in his ribs, he breathes in through his nose, the pain fueling his adrenaline. He bounces towards his opponent, who shows no signs that he’s even paying attention to the fight. Daichi didn’t understand. You needed to be ready to fight, you couldn’t just stay still and expect to dodge a punch, but Daichi thought, he already did it once before. 

Daichi inched to his opponent, until he’s face to face with him, bodies just barely touching. His opponent wasn’t going to move until Daichi did. Daichi needed a plan, he should’ve had one before he was this close, but it was too late now. Okay. 

Daichi throws a right hook, his opponent raises his left arm to block the hit. Daichi steps his right foot over and slams his left fist into his opponent’s stomach. His opponent gasps for air and throws his own right hook that Daichi takes to the face. Daichi doesn’t even take a step back, he needs this fight, he needs this win. Daichi throws his right fist at his opponent’s ribs again, it hits this time, and this is when he swings his left fist into his opponents face. Daichi knows this is always a wild card, throwing a left hook when you’re not left-handed is difficult. There’s the factor of throwing the punch correctly, and aiming it, having enough control and power, and grace. Daichi has all of this, except his aim. Maybe his aim was correct and his opponent just moved, he thought, let’s go with that. In the moment of the collision, Daichi feels, he hears the crack of his opponent nose with his fist. Blood pours instantaneously, covering his opponent’s mouth and dripping off his chin. 

Daichi’s eyes go wide as his opponent doesn’t move, since he was punched. His face still in the position from the end of Daichi’s swing. The crowd around the ring is quiet. Daichi stares and stares watching the blood trickle down onto the cement floor of the ring. He looks at his opponents face, and his arms, his arms are stuck in place, his right arm across his stomach and his left arm raised at head level, he wonders that if he makes a move if he’ll finally move again. Daichi has this fight, there’s chances to take, and this chance he taking. 

He undercuts his right arm into his opponent’s stomach, and his left fist into his opponent’s ribs, and his opponent takes the punches and moves his arms in attempt to block, but Daichi keeps throwing punches, left and right and right and left, and his opponent falls on his back, his arms flailing out to the sides. He lays there next to the small puddle of his blood. 

Someone grabs Daichi’s arm and hoists it in the air and guides him out of the ring. He watches his opponent get carried off 

*** 

Daichi, standing outside of the ring by the announcer of the fight, looked for Kuroo, moving his head from left to right. The after effects of fights tended to be disorienting, the adrenaline was still pumping through Daichi’s veins, his eyes blurred, ears ringing. He felt an arm sling over his shoulders. 

“Holy shit! Guess the rumors are true.” He heard Kuroo’s voice over his head. Daichi swiveled to turn Kuroo. 

“That fight! I! That fight!” Daichi stuttered. Kuroo threw his arms in the air for high-fives. 

“Yeah man! Come on, I got plans for us now, let’s get out of here before you get any more people staring at you.” Kuroo slung his arm over Daichi’s shoulders again and guided him out to leave the warehouse. 

They walked far enough that they could no longer hear the crowds from the warehouse. Kuroo still had his arm over Daichi’s shoulders, but he stopped walking and slide his bag down his arm. 

“I got something to celebrate. I only do this on special occasions.” Kuroo said, winking at Daichi and rummaging through his bag. He pulled out a bottle and said, “If you’re not into drinking, then I’m okay with that, we’ll skip this part then.” 

Daichi stared at the bottle. He had never drank before really. He didn’t have anything against it either. 

“Okay, let’s do it.” Daichi said with a confident smile. Kuroo grinned at Daichi and unscrewed the top of the bottle and took a giant swig. 

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Kuroo said and handed the bottle to Daichi. Okay, so just knock it back, Daichi thought. That’s exactly what he did, took a drink as big as Kuroo did. He swallowed and started coughing instantly. Kuroo grabbed his stomach and started laughing. Daichi stared with glossy eyes at Kuroo and Kuroo wiped away his pretend tears. 

“Wooo, alright, I got someplace else I wanna take you. The night is still young.” Kuroo winked and slung his arm over Daichi’s shoulders again and continued to walk. 

Daichi and Kuroo pass the bottle back and forth while they walked. Daichi had no idea where Kuroo was taking him too, but he felt warm in his belly and he liked where they walked because he could see some stars now. 

After walking, and drinking, and walking, and looking at the dim stars, and walking, Kuroo finally stopped at a shrine with a playground. Kuroo left Daichi’s side and headed for the swings. Daichi’s shoulders felt cold without Kuroo’s arm around them, but Daichi’s head was light and his belly was warm. Kuroo sat in the seat of the swing and stared at Daichi. 

“Sa-wa-mu-ra,” Kuroo pronounced every syllable in Daichi’s name slowly, “Come push me, Sawamura.” 

Kuroo whined for Daichi to come push him, Daichi followed his command and stood behind Kuroo. He gave him a push, it nearly knocked Daichi back, where’d his balance go? He continued to push Kuroo on the swing. Kuroo had stripped his book bag somewhere in the playground, but held the bottle by it’s neck. 

“Sawamura! Stop pushing me now please,” Kuroo laughed, “I might get sick.” 

Kuroo kept laughing, which made Daichi laugh, but he was busy laughing and didn’t stop Kuroo’s swing. He heard Kuroo whine and beg Daichi to stop the swing, Daichi laughed even harder. Daichi wiped away actual tears and looked at the swing, it was slowing down, Kuroo could stop it himself. Daichi would stop it though, he wrapped his arms around Kuroo to stop the swing. Kuroo laughed. He felt Kuroo’s head fall on his arms that remained wrapped about Kuroo. 

“Tell me something Sawamura.” Kuroo purred. Daichi pondered for a moment. He felt his head lay on Kuroo’s. 

“Hmm, do you see that red star?” 

“Mhmm.” 

“That’s Betelgeuse or Heike Boshi, for the Taira family. And you see that white one over there?” Daichi said pointing since most stars look white. 

“Yeah, I think. I’ss a little blurry.” Kuroo said, and Daichi could hear the hum of his voice on his arm. 

“That’s Rigel, or Genji Boshi, for the Minamoto family. You know the stories, yeah?” 

“Yeah, I just didn’t know the stars and stuff. They aren’t very bright.” Kuroo said and lifted his head off Daichi’s arm, forcing Daichi’s head off his. Kuroo looked him in the eyes, Kuroo’s were glossy, Daichi wondered if his were, and Kuroo smiled at him. 

“You’re so smart Sawamura,” Kuroo purred and broke free of Daichi’s grip around him, Kuroo stood and took another drink from the bottle, “Let’s go sit down.” 

Daichi thought about how smarter Kuroo was than he. He watched Kuroo as stumbled his way over to a bench, and when he made it to the bench he plopped down, bottle in hand resting on his knee and his other hand stretched across the back of the bench. Daichi laughed and swayed in place. 

“Sawamura, come on little birdie.” Kuroo called. Daichi blinked a few times and started making his way over to the bench. It would be nice to have Kuroo’s arm over his shoulder again, Daichi thought. So he sat where Kuroo’s free arm rested. 

“I’m not here ‘cause you called, just so you know.” Daichi said situating himself on the hard wooden bench. 

“Oh, don’t be like that, Sawamura.” Kuroo said frowning. Kuroo slid his arm across Daichi’s shoulders. Daichi felt even warmer inside, but he felt like he was burning inside when Kuroo flung his right leg over Daichi’s lap and intertwined his left leg in between Daichi’s. Kuroo still had his grip on the neck of the bottle. 

“So, Sawamura,” Kuroo took a sip from the bottle, “So, you’re not with that vice-captain of yours, right?” 

“No, Suga is too good for me. Why do you keep bringing that up?” Daichi asked. 

“No reason I guess, it’s just that,” Kuroo laughed under his breath, “Ya’ know, no you probably don’t, but Sawamura, you’re pretty hot, and watching you fight was even hotter.” 

All the heat in Daichi’s body went up a thousand degrees. Daichi felt his hand grabbing the bottle out of Kuroo’s hand and he took a swig. He looked at Kuroo, although Kuroo faced him and was entangled with Daichi, his dilated pupils were in the corner of his eyes, avoiding all eye contact. 

“Well, so anyway, I was wondering since you’re not with your vice-captain if you didn’t mind if, I, uh, if I kissed you?” 

“Do I mind…?” Daichi started, Kuroo took the bottle from Daichi and took a sip. He threw his arm out and shrugged. The bottle spilled some. He rested the bottle on Daichi’s left knee. Suddenly Kuroo’s face felt closer than it had before, Kuroo made eye contact for a second, and diverted his eyes again. 

“Ya, know, if you’re cool with that, I mean-” Kurro said, and the end was muffled by Daichi planting his lips on Kuroo’s. Kuroo’s eyes widened, and slowly shut. The drunkness of the kiss led it to be sloppy. Their tongues twirled around each other’s, teasing each other for more, and more, and more, Daichi ran his hand through Kuroo’s hair, and oh my gosh, it’s soft, it was really bed head and not gelled? Kuroo kissed him harder and Daichi grabbed a fist full of hair, and he heard Kuroo moan in the back of his throat. Kuroo’s lips broke off and Daichi felt himself lean further into Kuroo. Kuroo saw a sliver of Daichi through his silted eyes, he grinned and bit Daichi’s bottom lip. Daichi groaned and pulled the fist full of hair that he had been holding onto. Daichi felt the bottle on his knee tip over, and Kuroo pulled away and swung the bottle to his lips. 

“Whoops, almost dropped it.” Kuroo said and pressed his forehead on Daichi’s. Kuroo kissed Daichi, and Daichi could feel Kuroo smile when his lips retreated. Daichi felt his hand grab the nape of Kuroo’s neck, and he pulled Kuroo in for small kisses, one after the other, Daichi felt like magnets, he couldn’t help but to want to kiss Kuroo more and more. Kuroo placed a long kiss on Daichi and pulled his head away leaving Daichi’s hand to fall down Kuroo’s chest. 

“I hate to be a party pooper, Sawamura, but it’s probably about time that we head home.” Kuroo said rolling his head on his shoulders to look at Daichi. 

“Mm, I think you’re right.” Daichi said. He stood up and offered his hands to help Kuroo up. Daichi thought that drinking was just as fun as fighting was.


	12. Out of Comfort Zones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a long chapter to make up for all of my short ones, enjoy!

Drinking was not as fun the next morning as fighting was. Daichi woke up thinking his brain was trying to set itself free by knocking on his skull. His tongue, sandpaper, why was he so thirsty? The morning after a big fight, all Daichi could feel was the remnants of where he had been punched. He could see the slight purpling of his bruises under his tan skin and sometimes he felt like throwing up if he had really taken a beating. But no, drinking was not as much fun as fighting, okay, maybe in the moment, but definitely not the morning after. 

Actually, Daichi didn’t even remember getting back to Kuroo’s last night. He remembered the fight of course, he remembered when Kuroo first pulled out the bottle, he remembered getting to the playground, pushing Kuroo on the swing, talking about the stars, he remembers sitting down and talking with Kuroo, he remembered—oh, he remembered now. Oh no. Daichi turned over on his futon to see if Kuroo was still sleeping, no. He wasn’t in his room. Daichi sat up and gripped his head. His brain pounded on his skull, did he get a concussion? 

“Good morning, Sunshine.” Daichi heard Kuroo’s voice echo in his head. He threw his arm up to shush Kuroo. That’s when the real pain hit, Kuroo started laughing. When would it end, Daichi thought, when would he stop laughing. Daichi’s ear rang along with his pounding head. He heard Kuroo step towards him, and he felt Kuroo’s hand grip his chin. Daichi peaked an eye open to look at Kuroo. 

“I’ll go get you some aspirin and water.” Kuroo said kneeling in front of Daichi. He stood up and left the room, Daichi heard him laugh again, but it wasn’t as painful to him this time. Daichi was sure that his head was beating more than his own heart was. He heard Kuroo walk back into the room, he was quieter this time. He sat the glass of water on the floor next to Daichi and grabbed Daichi’s hand, so soft as if he was afraid it might break, and opened Daichi's hand and placed two pills in his hand. 

“I’m making breakfast, so whenever you’re ready.” Kuroo whispered, and then he walked out of the room as cautiously as he had just whispered. Daichi took a drink of water first, and swallowed the pills next and laid back down. 

Daichi realized he was still in the same clothes as last night. Besides getting rid of the pounding in his head, he wanted to take a shower. His skin crawled knowing how gross it was, he always took a shower after a fight, well, unless it was too late but then he took a shower first thing in the morning. He’d still change out of those clothes though. 

This was just gross. 

Daichi sat up again, his head a little clearer. The last thing that he truly remembered was making out with Kuroo, and that was strange enough. Daichi, sober-minded, wasn’t really complaining however. There’s something about Kuroo, Daichi thought, that he didn’t mind that he had made out with him. He thought about it some more. Kuroo had asked him, yes, but Daichi was the one that kissed him. He didn’t remember what happened after that. Daichi stared at the ceiling and sighed. He’d remember everything if he was with Suga. 

Daichi walked out of Kuroo’s bedroom and headed into the kitchen where Kuroo was, indeed, making breakfast. Kuroo turned his head and smiled at Daichi. Daichi wasn’t sure how to react, surely Kuroo remembered everything that happened last night, he hardly seemed fazed that they drank last night. 

“Feeling any better?” Kuroo asked, and he looked back at whatever it was he was cooking, Daichi couldn’t see, he didn’t really care that much either. He appreciated the gesture though. 

“Yeah, a little, thanks,” Daichi said hoarsely, he wondered if it was proper or not to ask what happened the previous night, “So uhm-“ 

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Kuroo spun and flashed his signature grin. Daichi’s face went as red as it could, he took a deep breath and stood up straight. 

“I, I was only going to ask what happened after we left the shrine.” Daichi said, a little bit more rushed than he would’ve liked. Kuroo raised an eyebrow. 

“Oho? Nothing really, Sawamura, we just walked home. You didn’t grab my ass or anything.” Kuroo said lowering his eyelids. Daichi did- what. He grabbed Kuroo’s butt? Kuroo erupted with laughter, Daichi felt the slight remaining pounding in his head. God, Daichi just wanted to lay back down and sleep all day. 

“I mean, sure I grabbed your ass in return, but you started it. The walk home was probably more fun than mak-” 

“Okay! I think I’ve heard enough. Thank you.” Daichi projected. The pounding in his head almost back to throbbing just from raising his own voice. He clutched his head. Kuroo laughed again, and Daichi covered his ears with the palms of his hands. Kuroo walked over to him and took Daichi’s hands in his own. He leaned over to be more personal. 

“Go take a shower, breakfast will be ready when you’re done. I’ll try not to make fun of you, but honestly, you were so funny and cute when you were drunk last night. I won’t talk about it anymore if you don’t want me to though.” 

Daichi looked up at Kuroo, and then he looked at Kuroo’s hands holding his own. This didn’t make them, a couple, did it? How did he ask that? Maybe he would ask later. 

“Thanks, I’ll go take a shower.” Daichi said, Kuroo released his hands. Daichi grabbed a change of clothes and walked into the bathroom. He undressed out of his clothes and turned to the shower. He stared at the knobs. More than fighting was different in Tokyo. Daichi headed for the door. He was naked. He groaned. There were towels, but maybe he could figure it out. He theorized what the different knobs did. Showers at other people’s houses were something to avoid, he liked his house shower, and he understood how to use the one’s at school and the one at Suga’s house. But this, this was different. Fine, he decided, he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist and grabbed the door knob when he heard Kuroo’s voice. 

“Need any help in there?” He said through the crack of the door. Daichi opened the door, standing in all his shame and huffed. 

“Yes, please.” Daichi replied. Kuroo stood leaning on the wall next to the door of the bathroom. He looked at Daichi and laughed under his breath. He pushed himself off the wall and strode into the bathroom, flipped the knobs around and said, “That’ll be the perfect temperature, trust me.” 

Kuroo walked out of the bathroom shutting the door. Daichi knew he was grinning even if he didn’t see it, but Daichi was embarrassed. He was embarrassed not only from not knowing how the shower worked, but also waking up this morning hungover and not knowing what happened after they left the shrine. It’s all he could think about while he was in the shower. The shower really was the perfect temperature, he stood there as water poured down on him, washing away the rest of his hangover, and the little bit of pain from his fight last night. When he got out of the shower, he felt somewhat refreshed, new clothes, no physical pain, muscles relaxed, his mind was still cloudy though. Daichi felt his appetite now, Kuroo already made Daichi a plate of rice, grilled mackerel and a bowl of miso soup. He said his thanks and started eating, and eating, and eating, he had more of an appetite than he realized and it was only breakfast. After he was done, his mind was a bit little foggy, he realized Kuroo was still in his pajamas, how completely belligerent was Daichi last night that he couldn’t even put his pajamas on. 

“So what do you have planned for today?” He asked Kuroo who was still eating his breakfast. 

“We have to take breakfast to Kenma and then we’ll visit Hosei,” Kuroo said squinting his eyes, “I guess I don’t have that much planned for us for today. But I’m sure you wanna look at the city some more so we can go do whatever.” 

Once the boys left Kuroo’s apartment, they walked to see Kenma. Kuroo carried a bento box filled with a more nutrient packed breakfast than they had just ate. Daichi thought about that for a while. Did Kenma just not eat healthy enough? Or did Kuroo really care that much? It might’ve been both, he thought, he didn’t know Kenma at all really, and sometimes he felt like he really didn’t know Kuroo at all either. 

Kenma also lived in an apartment, but this apartment was nicer than the one Kuroo lived in, however, instead of walking up three flights of stairs to get to Kuroo’s, they had to take an elevator up to the twelfth floor. They stepped out of the elevator and Daichi watched as Kuroo swung open the closest door. They took off their shoes and walked in, Kenma sat in the middle of the floor staring at the television as he played a game. It was weird, Daichi thought, that Kenma didn’t even look to see who came in. 

“Look who I have with me.” Kuroo said proudly, standing next to Daichi, almost like he was showing Daichi off. Did he tell Kenma what happened last night? There was no response from Kenma, or there was, but it was just a mumbled form of unconscious approval. 

“Oi! Pause your game. I brought you breakfast.” Kuroo said with a foot on Kenma’s back, trying to get Kenma’s attention. The noise from the game stopped and Kenma tilted his head back. 

“Hello.” Kenma said with a slight smile to Daichi and then he gave Kuroo an annoyed look. Kuroo laughed and rocked his foot on Kenma’s back until he stood up. When he did, he grabbed the bento box and grabbed chop sticks from the kitchen. 

“Kuroo, you always bring me too much food.” Kenma mumbled as if this is routine. Although Kenma lived in a nice apartment, Daichi didn’t feel as comfortable as he thought he would. Perhaps it was because he didn’t know Kenma and that he was just getting to know Kuroo. 

“Aw, fine. I’ll eat it then,” Kuroo said reaching for the bento box and Kenma turned his back to him with a smile, Kuroo ruffled his hair and said, “We’re visiting Hosei today, wanna come with?” 

Kenma muffled a no through all the food in his mouth, and sat down at a table. Kuroo huffed and he and Daichi sat with him. 

“Fine, next year you can come visit me and Daichi there.” Kuroo winked at Daichi. 

“Yeah, I’ll come visit Daichi.” Kenma replied. Kuroo’s face dropped from his care-free wink. Daichi laughed and patted Kenma on the back, which was too hard for Kenma and he started choking on the food he was eating. 

“Daichi! Look what you’ve done!” Kuroo laughed and ran into the kitchen to grab a glass of water for Kenma. 

“I’m so sorry.” Daichi said frantically, hands wavering not sure what to do. Kenma forced the food in his mouth to his stomach. He waved his chopsticks at Daichi. 

“It’s okay, I’m fine. Kuroo makes a scene out of everything.” Kenma looked at Daichi through a few stray strands of hair on his face. Kuroo stepped into the room, drinking the glass of water he just poured for Kenma. 

“I do not make a scene out of everything,” Kuroo said with his nose stuck in the air and a hand on his hip, he slammed the glass of water on the table, “Now if you excuse me, the marvelous Daichi and I have places to be.” 

Kuroo elegantly offered a hand to Daichi and helped him up. They said their goodbye’s to Kenma and left the apartment. The two boys got on the train and headed to Hosei. Kuroo promised Daichi that it wasn’t that long of a ride, but to Daichi anything that took longer than the walk to school and back was long, and this was a long ride. Daichi groaned most of the way, after about fifteen minutes of sitting on the train he had lost all patience. Kuroo had attempted to distract him by pointing out important or interesting buildings that they passed by. What really distracted Daichi was that the fingers Kuroo used to point things out was connected to the arm that hung around Daichi’s shoulders. Daichi remembered the warmth of Kuroo’s arm around him from the previous night, he couldn’t concentrate of what Kuroo was talking about at all. 

“This is our stop.” Kuroo said dropping his hand. Daichi eyed Kuroo’s hand, he had long fingers. As Kuroo stood, Daichi felt his arm slide off his shoulders. Did he linger at all? 

Daichi followed Kuroo off the train, out of the station and towards Hosei. Daichi had been looking around that he didn’t notice the enormous campus he was approaching. 

“Whoa. Oh hey, hey,” Daichi grabbed Kuroo’s arm, “can you take a picture of me.” 

Kuroo raised an eyebrow and took the phone that Daichi was offering him. Daichi stood so the campus was the background of the picture. Daichi adjusted himself, made sure his shirt wasn’t wrinkly and he patted his hair. He heard a snap. 

“I wasn’t ready yet!” Daichi yelled and Kuroo laughed and took a rapid fire of pictures. Each picture progressively funnier to Kuroo as Daichi yelled something else in every picture. 

“Ok, ok, I’ll take a good picture this time.” Kuroo finished laughing. He waited for Daichi to situate himself again, and he posed. Kuroo held back a laugh as he watched Daichi stand with a thumbs up. Kuroo clicked the button to take the picture and he swore magic happened. The way the light shone on Daichi’s tan skin and his dark brown eyes sparkled. 

“Wow,” Kuroo mumbled, and Daichi ran up to him and asked how it turned out, “Beautiful, mwah! Perfect model.” 

Daichi snatched his phone back and played with it as they walked towards the school. 

“What are you doing?” Kuroo asked eyeing Daichi, attempting to see what he was going on his phone. Daichi looked up from his phone, looked back, finished what he was doing and stuck his phone in his pocket. 

“I sent it to Suga.” Daichi said as nonchalantly as he could. Kuroo was not jealous. Not at all. The boys found themselves unconsciously walking towards the gyms. They searched for what gym was used for volleyball, they found it, empty, nets still up, balls spread about the floor, they figured the team was jogging. Daichi looked at Kuroo mischievously. 

“Oho?” 

“Take another picture of me.” 

“Oh-ho?” 

“No, I want you to take another picture of me.” 

This was a side of Daichi that Kuroo never thought he’d see. He’s like an excited little tourist. Kuroo laughed and took Daichi's phone from him again. They didn’t walk too far into the gym just in case the team came back. Daichi stood pointing at the nets smiling. Kuroo took a rapid fire of Daichi, and again with each one getting progressively sillier. Daichi sent a few more pictures too Suga while they left the gym. The Koganei campus also had a fairly large court yard, but Daichi and Kuroo didn’t realize how much time they had spent so far and found themselves hungry and made their way to the other campus, Ichigaya. This is where they find the most famous building of Hosei. Daichi turned to Kuroo and before Daichi could even say anything Kuroo put out his hand for Daichi’s phone. 

“Thanks, but we have to do this one perfect,” Daichi said crossing his arms over his chest, “Now take the picture from below.” 

Kuroo rolled his eyes and stifled a laugh. He knelt down and acted like a professional photographer. 

“Oh yeah baby, show it off, show it all off, give it to me.” Kuroo said taking a million more photos of Daichi in which Daichi had started switching up poses. Daichi laughed and snatched his phone back from Kuroo. 

“Ok now let’s go get something to eat, I’m starving.” Daichi said helping Kuroo up. 

They went to the closest restaurant which was more like a café than anything. After they found a table to sit at, they ordered coffee and sandwiches. Daichi’s phone kept ringing. He checked, and he saw that he had countless amount of texts from Suga. 

_OMG!! How is it??_

_Did you play volleyball with any college students?_

 _You’re such a nerd!_

 _

No pictures of Kuroo? I hope he’s having fun too, tell him I say hi! 

That’s a huge building! 

Have fun, text me later

_

Those were only half of the messages from Suga, Daichi locked his phone and put it back in his pocket. The waitress brought their coffees and their sandwiches over. 

“So,” Kuroo took a bite of his sandwich, “What did Suga have to say?” 

“Just that he hopes we’re having fun, he also says hi.” 

“Well hello to you, Suga. So, if you don’t mind, can I ask you something?” Kuroo asked, staring at the coffee that Daichi stirred. Daichi raised an eyebrow. 

“The last time you asked me a question like this—I won’t go any further since you were there, but yes, go ahead.” 

“Last night,” Kuroo sighed and looked Daichi in the eyes, “Last night you said that, no, you weren’t with Suga because he’s too good for you.” 

Daichi swallowed. 

“You don’t really believe that do you?” Kuroo finally asked. Daichi took a sip of his coffee and set it down. He wasn’t going to lie, he remembered saying that, but he didn’t know what compelled him to say that, besides that fact that he thought it was true. Why would he ever tell Kuroo something like that—oh wait, he was _drunk_. Daichi put his head in his hands and sighed. 

“I didn-” 

“Because you know that’s not true, right? Like, I don’t know Suga, he could possibly be perfect, but too good for you? Do you really believe that?” 

Daichi ran his hands down his face and looked at Kuroo. He was leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, looking more serious that Daichi has ever seen him. Daichi thought, that doesn’t mean that they’re together. 

“No one is too good for you.” Kuroo said putting his elbows on the table. There was silence. Daichi didn’t know what to say, and Kuroo was letting it all sink in for Daichi. Chatter from other tables intruded their silence, the waitress came over and asked if they needed anything else. 

“No, I think we’re good for now.” Kuroo smiled at her. She giggled and walked away. Was that just who Kuroo was? A flirt? Did anything that happened last night mean anything to him at all? It meant something for Daichi. He hadn’t really ever kissed someone like that before, let completely lose with someone like that before as to where he couldn’t remember grabbing Kuroo’s butt. The chatter in the café grew louder in Daichi’s head, it was nothing like the white noise he heard during a fight, this was annoying. His shaky hand picked up his coffee cup and he took a sip. 

“So can I ask you another question?” Kuroo interrupted Daichi’s thoughts. He looked up at Kuroo who seemed more at ease, more relaxed. It was just the opposite for Daichi, he had been relaxed, but his whole body was tense now. He sighed. 

“You just did.” Daichi said in reply trying not to seem like he though his head was going to explode. 

“Smartass,” Kuroo laughed, “Tell me the truth, be honest with me. Do you like your vice-captain?” 

Okay, so Daichi had never really thought about that, if he did or not. It was never something that came to his mind. He actually thought that he might like Kuroo. Kuroo seemed to keep Daichi on edge, and he never knew exactly what Kuroo would say next. He made Daichi nervous, really. Before he came to Tokyo, everytime that Kuroo texted him something… well anything, Daichi thought he would throw up. Daichi attempted to suppress a laugh, but he didn’t succeed very well. 

“I haven’t given it much thought.” Daichi shrugged, feeling more at ease. Kuroo leaned back in his chair again and raised an eyebrow out of suspicion. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but he closed it. 

“If you want me to be honest with you, I thought I liked you.” Daichi said and he watched as Kuroo’s face turned red. 

“Whoa, what do you mean you _thought_ you liked me?” Kuroo said trying to play off his nerves. He tried to lean his arm on the table, but caught the edge of the table instead. He caught himself but the table still shook. Kuroo’s coffee, still filled to the brim, spilled over some. He only picked it up and wiped the table with some napkins. 

“I mean that, you flirt with everyone it seems,” Daichi started off, Kuroo’s eyes glued to him, “I guess you’re just different than most people that I know.” 

Kuroo laughed, loudly. Daichi felt embarrassed, he wasn’t used to expressing himself in this sort of manner. God, he thought, he probably just said something really stupid. Kuroo finally stopped laughing and stared at Daichi. 

“I didn’t realize you thought I flirted with everyone, it’s okay to be jealous, Sawamura,” Kuroo smirked, “but I don’t go around kissing just anyone.” 

Okay, see this was why Kuroo made Daichi nervous. It was irritating, Daichi thought he had control over the situation, but Kuroo was holding the reins the whole time. 

“Well, I’m glad we got this cleared up.” Daichi said trying to end the conversation, Kuroo laughed again. 

“Oho? You think this conversation is over?” Kuroo asked rhetorically, “It’s only just begun.” 

Kuroo reached across the table and took Daichi’s hand in his own. His touch sent nerves panicking from the fingers that Kuroo held to the nerves in his brain. Kuroo pulled Daichi’s hand towards him, and he kissed Daichi’s faintly purple knuckles. Daichi pulled his hand back. 

“Okay, now it’s really over.” Daichi hurriedly said. Kuroo pouted his lips. Oh, now Daichi really remembered why he kissed him last night. 

“But, Sawamura,” Kuroo whined each syllable of Daichi’s name, but then changed his whole demeanor, he sat up straight and relaxed his face, “I really do want to know if you like your vice-captain or not.” 

“Why?” Daichi asked defensively. He didn’t mean for it to seem like he was hiding a secret, it was that he just did not know. Kuroo sighed and rolled his eyes. 

“Well, if you don’t like him, I’d like to hold your hand when we walk. However, if you do like him, I don’t want to interfere.” 

How did Kuroo say all this so casually? He sat relaxed, leaning back in his chair, arm propped over the back. It was definitely just for show. Kuroo was probably screaming inside- he wasn’t. Kuroo probably played this conversation in his head a million times- he didn’t. Kuroo probably wanted to throw up- he didn’t. Daichi did though. Daichi threw his head in his hands and groaned out of frustration. He tried to think about it, but the only thing in his mind was how aggravating it was that Kuroo wasn’t nervous. 

“I never thought about it,” Daichi admitted and lifted his head up, “I never gave it any thought.” 

Kuroo hummed and looked up at the ceiling and thought about what Daichi said. 

“Okay, well, you think about it,” Kuroo proposed, “and if I cross any lines, you let me know.” 

Daichi was going to be honest with himself, meaning that he absolutely did not want to think about whether or not he liked Suga. New things, new experiences were not Daichi’s strong suit. He’d give it some thought, maybe. Maybe it would be all he could think about now that Kuroo had brought it up, but he still did not want to think about it. Daichi never verbally answered Kuroo, but he accepted his proposition. They ate their sandwiches and left the café to walk around the city some. And when Kuroo reached to hold Daichi’s hand, Daichi held Kuroo’s hand back, he was nervous and wanted to stare at the ground and hide his face. How did Kuroo act so casually about this? Kuroo’s fingers interlocked with Daichi’s and… and it felt nice but weird at the same time, Daichi thought.


	13. The Last Night in Tokyo

They didn’t do much after leaving the café. They had walked around the part of the city that they were in, all while holding each other’s hands. It was a new thing for Daichi, but he got used to it after a while. Daichi had noticed that even though Kuroo’s right hand was holding his left, Kuroo was using his left hand for everything with no problem. This was weird because Kuroo had used his right hand for everything else. How did Kuroo manage to be better at everything than Daichi? He was smarter than him, they lost every practice game to his team, _and_ he was ambidextrous? Come on. 

When they got back to Kuroo’s apartment, his mother was there, making herself something to eat. Kuroo hadn’t let go of Daichi’s hand at all. Daichi begged for release, he let his grip go, but Kuroo still held on. Kuroo dragged him to the kitchen where he finally let go of Daichi’s hand, but put both of his hands on Daichi’s shoulders. 

“Ma, this is Sawamura,” He introduced, his mother turned her head around and smiled, “Ya know, Karasuno’s captain?” 

“Ohh, you’ve told me about him. I forgot this was when he was coming down or I would’ve took off work,” she smiled and straightened out her dress, “Nice to meet you, Sawamura. My son talks about you all the time.” 

She had turned around by the time she said the last sentence. Daichi couldn’t see anyone’s faces, but Kuroo’s grip on Daichi’s shoulders tightened. 

“Mom!” Kuroo started and gained his control, “We’ll be in my room.” 

Daichi heard his mom giggle. He was highly amused. It wasn’t often that Kuroo was embarrassed. 

“I see where you get your wit from,” Daichi devilishly smiled at Kuroo and Kuroo mumbled something under his breath as he headed toward his room, Daichi turned to his mother and bowed, “It was nice to meet you.” 

Daichi walked into Kuroo’s room, he was sprawled across the bed. Daichi wasn’t sure what to do. Kuroo sat up and looked at Daichi and grinned. He stood up and made his way over to Daichi. Kuroo’s hand grazed Daichi’s face. He looked up to see Kuroo’s face, but by the time his eyes saw Kuroo’s eyes, they were already closed and Kuroo’s lips were already on Daichi’s lips. Was this normal? Or was this just Kuroo? Daichi thought it was just Kuroo, but he didn’t necessarily mind. Kuroo’s lips were soft, and his tongue tantalized him. As swiftly as Kuroo had pulled him into the kiss, he swiftly pulled himself away. This was why he thought he liked Kuroo. 

Kuroo walked across the room and pulled his shirt off from the back. Okay, Daichi thought, that was hot. He shook his head to dismiss the thought. 

“I wanna start getting ready to go to the fight. We were out late last night and your train is early in the morning right?” Kuroo turned around, new shirt in hand. 

“Oh, uh yeah. Yes, my train is at nine.” Daichi said. When he found out how early his train was, he was not happy. Out fighting late the night before and having to catch a nine o’clock train. Not his ideal way to start a day. They changed their clothes without saying another word. They heard footsteps approach Kuroo’s bedroom door and then stop. Daichi looked at the door, pantless, hoping his mother wasn’t going to come in. 

“I’m going to work, have fun _boys_.” Kuroo’s mom sang. Daichi guessed now that there was a reason as to why Kuroo acted the way he did, he got his sass from his mom. What exactly did Kuroo tell his mom about him? Daichi turned around to look at Kuroo, but Kuroo was standing right next to him. 

“Can you wrap my hands again tonight?” Kuroo purred. He stood so close to Daichi. Daichi felt his heart knock on his chest a few times. 

“Yeah,” Daichi said, still pantless, and he grabbed Kuroo’s hand, “But, let me put some pants on first.” 

Kuroo laughed and flopped on his bed. Daichi slid into a pair of sweatpants and sat on Kuroo’s bed and grabbed his hand again. It felt so much more intimate than it did the night before. He took the roll and laced it over his hand and between his fingers, covering Kuroo’s knuckles. After he wrapped both his and Kuroo’s hands, they left and headed for the warehouse. Kuroo held Daichi’s hand. 

*** 

After they walked in and after Kuroo signed them both up for fights, one after the other, Kuroo walks Daichi over to an empty spot to watch a fight. 

“You’re fighting before me?” Daichi asks, and he can see the glow on Kuroo’s face as he says yes. 

“My fight is up next.” Kuroo says as he jumps in place a few times. Punches are thrown and someone falls to the ground. Kuroo grins and presses his mouth to Daichi’s ear. Kuroo’s breath is warm and Daichi’s body freezes. 

“Try not to miss me too much while I’m gone.” Kuroo whispers and gives Daichi a peck on the cheek before he walks over to his fight. Daichi takes a few steps closer to the ring so he can see the fight more clearly. 

When Daichi sees Kuroo, the announcer calls for the fight to start. Fights were different when you watched them. Kuroo grins at the start of the fight and he throws the first punch, it misses, but he dodges the punches that are thrown by his opponent also. Kuroo lands a few hits, but it isn’t until his opponents hits him that the fight actually starts. Daichi confirms to himself that Kuroo is indeed ambidextrous by the way he fights. His punches, left and right, are both equally controlled. Kuroo knows exactly what he’s doing. The fight is over within a minute. After his opponent landed a punch, Kuroo had started to swing so much that it was hard, almost impossible Daichi thought, to dodge any of them. Kuroo has control, and he has the precision. All of his punches land on his opponent. His opponent falls and after a moment shakes his head. He flails in attempt to get up, but his consciousness slips away from him. Now, Daichi understands what Kuroo meant last night. It was hot watching Kuroo fight. 

Kuroo slides next to Daichi and whispers in his ear again, “We’ll talk later. You’re up next.” 

Daichi isn’t sweating tonight as much as he usually is. It’s nice to not feel his shirt clinging to his body as he steps into the ring. And when he does step into the ring, he’s met with a man, almost the same build as Daichi, but thicker. His muscle tone was far better than Daichi’s. Maybe it’s a thing for Tokyo fighters, he’d have to check out Kuroo again. They don’t break each other’s eye contact, and they wait. 

“ _FIGHT!_ ” 

Daichi lunges towards his opponent, but doesn’t throw a punch. An empty threat. His opponent jumps back with his forearms covering his face. Daichi has a plan now. His opponent is already close to the corner of the ring. He _could_ corner his opponent. He lunges and throws a punch at his opponent, unfortunately his opponent mirrors Daichi. His opponent lunges and throws a punch. They both dodge each other’s punches. They’re extremely close now. Daichi undercuts and hits his opponent’s stomach. His opponent takes the hit and jumps backwards. Yes, Daichi thinks, closer to the corner. 

Daichi bounces towards his opponent, he’s defensive. His opponent inches towards Daichi. Daichi lunges again, but without throwing a punch. Again, his opponent jumps back, closer to the corner of the ring. Daichi steps diagonally to the right and throws a punch at his opponents stomach, again, his opponent throws a punch, it hits Daichi’s arm. His punch only hits the air. They do this a few more times, punches thrown and punches dodged. No more closer to the corner. 

Daichi decides he needs a new course of action. He lunges at his opponent again, and his opponent blocks with his forearms, jumping back again. This time, Daichi lunges again, only lower time, and smashes his fist into his opponent’s stomach. Daichi throws another punch, using all the force in his body and slams his fist into his opponent’s stomach again. He finally is able to force his opponent into the corner. His opponent throws a left hook, Daichi dodges it and throws his own punch, and another, and another. His opponent blocks the last one and throws a punch straight to Daichi’s face. It hits, it collides with Daichi’s left cheek. Daichi doesn’t hesitate and throws an undercut, finally knocking his opponent down. 

Daichi takes a few steps back and the announcer calls the fight and thrusts Daichi’s arm in the air. 

*** 

Kuroo had greeted Daichi with a bear hug once he left the ring. They laughed and talked about their fights as they left the warehouse. Kuroo went to grab Daichi’s hand, but Daichi grabbed his ringing phone. A text from Suga. This late? 

_What time is your train home tomorrow?_

Daichi’s heart had stopped momentarily. It was already past midnight, he was afraid something happened to Suga. 

_9 in the morning_

Daichi didn’t even put his phone in his pocket before it rang again. 

_That’s so early!! Try to take a nap on the way home so you aren’t grumpy lol Goodnight!!_

Suga thought he was funny. Daichi was not looking forward to waking up early tomorrow. 

_Thanks, I’ll try. Goodnight!_

“What are you smiling at?” Kuroo said. Daichi looked at him. He was smiling. Kuroo was also smiling, “Well?” 

“Oh, Suga just said something funny, that’s all.” Daichi said dismissively. Kuroo made a noise and stuck his hands in his pockets. They hadn’t walked that much further when Kuroo gave in and took his hand out of his pocket and held Daichi’s. 

After they made it back to Kuroo’s apartment, they changed and took showers. While Daichi was in the shower Kuroo made them tea, he sat on the couch and waited for Daichi. Daichi emerged from the bathroom and sat next to Kuroo on the couch. Kuroo sat with his knees bent and his back against the arm of the couch. 

“I’m going to miss you when you leave, Sawamura,” Kuroo laid his head on the couch and winked, “Kenma doesn’t like to do anything but play videogames.” Kuroo frowned. Daichi laughed. 

“We didn’t do much else but fight though.” Daichi said. Kuroo sucked his teeth. Daichi felt Kuroo’s foot on his thigh. Heat rose to Daichi’s face. 

“Don’t say it like that. I’d say we made some memories. Even if you can’t remember some of them.” Kuroo winked at Daichi again and Daichi rubbed his temple and tried to forget about it all, but he couldn’t with Kuroo’s foot rubbing his thigh. Daichi grabbed his ankle. 

“Ooh, Sawamura, be gentle with me.” Kuroo purred. 

“You’re not as fragile as you think you are.” Daichi smirked at Kuroo. Kuroo laughed and shoved Daichi with his foot. Kuroo stopped and took a sip of his tea. Daichi stared at him. He had been meaning to ask him something all weekend. 

“How did you find out that I street fight?” Daichi asked. Kuroo raised his eyebrows. Daichi could see him grinning behind his tea cup. 

“I heard through the grapevine.” Kuroo said with a shrug of his shoulders. 

“How did you start fighting?” Daichi asked. That really caught Kuroo’s attention, but Daichi couldn’t tell if it struck a nerve or not. He cleared his throat and took another sip of his tea and shrugged his shoulders again. 

“I was walking to the shrine and passed the warehouse one night and heard people in there. So I went in,” Kuroo paused and seemed hesitant to go on, “My parents work hard to get me through school and to keep us living here and eating the food that we can eat. So when I ran into this opportunity to make some quick cash, I wasn’t going to just walk away. So I fight every Saturday night, and I usually fight in a couple of matches. I pay my parents back without them noticing.” 

Kurro laughed. Daichi swallowed hard. He was always grateful for the life that he had, but when he witnessed how hard life could actually be, he hated his life. He felt guilty, and he thought it was ridiculous. He hated listening to the fact that Kuroo had to fight in secret to help his family financially. He also hated seeing Suga and his family struggle. 

“I’m from a family of hard workers, Sawamura,” Kuroo continued, “that’s all we’ll ever be. But, I was excited to hear that you also fought.” 

“How did you know it was me though?” Daichi asked. 

“Some old men from the country were watching some fights at the warehouse and were talking about some competition that they took part in. They said some young kid knocked his first three opponents out.” 

“So, how did you know it was me then?” 

“Oh, right. They said the kid was short and had a square jaw—they also said it was near the school. That’s how I really knew. That’s also how I knew that I wanted to you come fight with me.” Kuroo said grinning. Everything Kuroo said was true, even the fact that Daichi was short, which Daichi didn’t think so, he was average and that was good enough. It was true that Daichi was in a competition at the abandoned house. He heard a few guys talking about it at a convenience store one night, they weren’t very discreet about it. It was after the two guys had attacked him. He already got the taste for fighting. He wanted to see what it was about, so he had gone to the house that the two guys talked about and signed up for his first fight. He knocked out his first two opponents, beat the third one, but lost his fourth fight. He loved fighting after that. 

“I guess that was me then.” Daichi confirmed.


	14. Conscious Laden

It was almost nine, Kuroo held Daichi’s hand while they waited for Daichi’s train home. Kuroo leaned down to whisper into Daichi’s ear. He lifted his head back up and shook his head. Daichi looked up and furrowed his brows. 

“What?” Daichi asked. Kuroo kissed Daichi and moved his mouth to Daichi’s ear again. 

“I know you like Suga, so don’t worry about what happened this weekend.” Kuroo said, his voice was shaky, but it was also bitter. Daichi felt Kuroo bite his ear and Daichi jumped in his skin. Kuroo threw his head back and laughed. Daichi looked at Kuroo with his eyebrows stitched together. Kuroo sighed, “Seriously, Sawamura. You don’t have to pretend you don’t.” 

The whirring sound of the train came before the train did itself. Kuroo looked in the direction the train came from. 

“Oh, loo-” Daichi started to say, but Kuroo hugged Daichi so tight that he couldn’t get the rest of his sentence out, and when Daichi tried to speak again, he found Kuroo’s mouth on his. Kuroo swirled his tongue in Daichi’s mouth. Kuroo pressed his lips hard against Daichi’s one last time. 

“Text me or something when you get home.” Kuroo said and smiled. 

“Okay, I will.” Daichi said and he headed to the train. He stepped on the train and turned around and waved to Kuroo. Kuroo blew a kiss to Daichi and laughed. Daichi shook his head and turned to go sit down, but he was smiling. 

The train ride home was long. Daichi couldn’t stop thinking about everything that Kuroo had said over the weekend. _I know you like Suga, so don’t worry about what happened this weekend._ How could he not think about what happened over the weekend? He hated to admit it, but Kuroo was his first _real_ kiss. He felt so stupid about it too, he was drunk and he kissed him. He was _drunk._ They kissed more than once. He didn’t regret it. But why did he have to press the fact that he liked Suga? Like, okay, sure—wait. He liked Suga. Maybe going to Tokyo was a mistake. Daichi never had to think about all this until he came to Tokyo. Now he drinks, and kisses random guys and comes to term with feelings that he didn’t even realize he had. Daichi exaggerated all this in his head. He drank once. Kuroo wasn’t a random guy. Yet, he did like Suga, and Kuroo could say it all he’d like, but Suga was _too_ good for Daichi. Kuroo was in Daichi’s league. Just another punk out on the streets fighting to try and make something out of themselves. Suga was—so you see, Suga just—Suga was… someone who showed up to your house fifteen minutes early, not someone who fights leisurely. Suga was someone who didn’t get upset when you messed up dinner, not someone who fights. Suga was someone who loves, not someone who _fights._ If anything and everything, Daichi knew he was not good enough for Suga. 

The train ride felt like it was taking forever. Home could not possibly be further away than it originally was. He got off and on trains all with the destination of home. Home, a house that’s not necessarily abandoned. A house that’s three streets and five blocks away from Suga’s. A house that sometimes has a mother, sometimes has a father, but mostly has a son. 

Daichi got on the final train home, trying not to let something that has never bothered him before, bother him. It was Sunday. He can’t fight tonight. If he went to fight tonight, he’d just let someone beat the shit out of him, pound the stress out of his body, and kill all the nerves so that the only thing traveling between synapses were pain. He could feel muscle spasms in his arms, begging, pleading for him to punch something. _Just punch something, Daichi._ No, not here. He will just go back to his house. He heard the conductor call his station. He took the step off the train, back out to the outside world. It smelled so much better than the city. Maybe this was all he needed. A walk around town. Maybe Tokyo was a bad idea. Daichi took a deep breath of air. He stood in the middle of the station and closed his eyes. He could hear the train pulling away, he could hear footsteps that relayed the rush of being late or being too early, he could hear birds chirping, and he could hear—his name? 

His eyes shot open and he looked around. He patted his pocket, he didn’t lose his wallet, who was calling his name—Suga? 

“Daichi!” Suga said running and waving his hand. His silver hair bounced as he ran. Suga smiled that smile where his eyes clenched shut. Suga came to the station and waited for him to return home. Suga stopped just short of running into Daichi and said, “Welcome back home!” 

Suga threw his arms in the air. Daichi took this chance and embraced Suga in a hug. 

“Thanks.” Daichi said and smiled. Suga, surprised about the sudden embrace, laughed and hugged Daichi back. They both let go. 

“Was the city too much for a country boy like you?” Suga said and raised an eyebrow and put a hand on his hip. Daichi rubbed the back of his neck. 

“No, but it’s nice to be home.” Daichi said. Suga punched Daichi’s stomach a few times and laughed. 

“It’s nice to have you back home. Now come on, let’s go.” Suga said and started to walk away. They left the station and Suga kept pestering Daichi to tell him about his trip. So Daichi told him about Hosei, he told him about the places they ate, he told him about visiting Kenma and what a great friend Kuroo must be to take him breakfast. He didn’t tell him about the fights, he didn’t tell him about the drinking, he didn’t tell him about how they kissed or held hands, or how Kuroo brought Daichi’s latent feelings for Suga out in the light. Daichi thought about how nice it actually was to hold hands, but he was too nervous to hold Suga’s. 

“Everything sounds so nice!” Suga smiled but then quickly frowned, “I’m sorry I can’t stay long right now, Asahi asked if I wanted to study with him today.” 

_Azumane._

“But, I wanted to greet you at the station when you got home first. Do you want to come study with us? It’s not like I’m in any classes with him.” Suga offered. Daichi waved his hand and forced a yawn. 

“No thanks, I’m tired from the train ride back home. Thank you for the offer though.” Daichi said. He wasn’t tired. Suga forced a smiled as forced as Daichi’s yawn. 

“Okay, well if you change your mind you know where Asahi lives,” Suga said throwing a thumbs back, Daichi didn’t realize how far they had walked, “last house down this street. I’m glad you’re back.” 

Suga gave Daichi a tight hug. When Suga broke off from Daichi he walked backwards a few steps and waved to Daichi. Daichi waved back pitifully. He walked to his house kicking a rock until it fell down a sewer drain. He opened the door to his house. His mother was home, her car was in the driveway. His father was not. He said hello to his mother and went straight to his room. He texted Kuroo. 

_I’m home. Thanks for inviting me over this weekend._

Kuroo texted him back. 

_No, thank you Sawamura ;)_

Daichi decided he was going to miss actually seeing Kuroo’s face when he said comments like that, but _this_ is where he should be. In a house, with a mother doing paperwork. Daichi gave her credit. She did ask how his weekend was, but all she had in reply was, _That’s nice, sweetie._ He received another text, Suga. 

_Sorry I had plans today, I thought you might join, but I feel bad. Want to hangout tomorrow after practice? I want to hear more about your trip :)_

Of course Daichi wanted to hangout with Suga tomorrow. 

_Don’t feel bad. And yes, I would love to hangout with you after practice. See you tomorrow at school._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like it so far :) I think I'm almost done writing this all out? So I'm pretty excited for you all to see what's going to happen!!  
> Also, I was thinking about starting to write my next one... This has been so much fun to write and you guys are awesome!


	15. First They're Sour, Then They're Sweet

Going back to school was a lot easier than it was going back to his house. Volleyball boys hooted and hollered once they saw their captain again. After fighting all weekend, it was refreshing to go back to playing volleyball. Except one thing—he had been punched in the arm. He didn’t think much about it at the time, and the pain from the punch wasn’t even that bad, but during his first receive during practice, oh, he felt the pain and his face contorted from the pain. He got back in line for receives. Suga was in front of him. 

“Is everything okay?” Suga turned his head back and whispered. Daichi thought he hid the pain, or at least that no one saw it. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes, you’re up next.” Daichi said giving Suga a light push. Suga left the conversation there and went for his receive. 

After practice, Daichi offered to buy pork buns. It was him, Suga, Asahi, Noya, and Tanaka again. Daichi had made a fair amount of money for his fights in Tokyo. He wasn’t flippant with his money, he just knew he had some to spend. Also, pork buns weren’t that expensive. Daichi’s arm still hurt, it was his left arm, so it didn’t matter that much, but it was still there. He tried to sneak a peek at his arm and see if there was a bruise, but there were too many eyes around him. He felt hands on his shoulders. Tanaka and Noya, exclaiming their happiness that their captain was back. He side-eyed them both. 

“Were you both good examples for the first years about how you should act when your captain is away?” Daichi asked. Noya and Tanaka both boomed with laughter saying that of course they were. Daichi looked over to Suga for approval, but Suga wasn’t paying attention to Daichi, Noya, and Tanaka. He was talking to Azumane. He was _laughing_ with Azumane. 

Daichi tried to focus on what the boys were talking about, but all he could really see was Suga talking with Azumane. 

First Tanaka and Noya parted ways. Then it was just Daichi, Suga, and Azumane. Daichi didn’t have much to say, even when Suga and Azumane initiated conversation. Things like, _Oh, yeah, Tokyo was great,_ or, _Kuroo’s awesome,_ and, _Yeah, I’ll have to go back soon, kinda miss it already._ Words that Daichi laced with poison. The same poison that coursed its way through his veins, setting fire to innocent nerves. He had a lump in his throat, and he wouldn’t make eye contact with them, his eyes were glossed over and veins stood out from anger. They all stopped talking. Azumane parted for his house. 

Then it was just Daichi and Suga. Daichi’s footsteps were heavy. Suga’s were not, they were light and thoughtful. Thoughtful of _maybe I should go home, Daichi seems upset,_ but they were thoughtful of knowing that Daichi was upset and that he should stay with him. Suga grabbed Daichi’s arm and asked, “Does it hurt?” 

Daichi looked at Suga and cast his eyes down. 

“No.” He whispered. Suga let go of his arm. It was dark and he couldn’t see if there was bruising anyway. They walked in silence for the rest of the way to Daichi’s house. It was car-less. He sighed. He unlocked the door and let Suga walk in first. The house was dark, and quiet. Daichi was tired now more than he was the day before. He turned on the lights and looked over to Suga. Suga smiled. 

“Come, let’s sit. Tell me more about Tokyo.” Suga said and sat down on the couch. 

“Do you want tea?” Daichi asked and Suga let the question sit in the air for a moment. 

“If you want some, that would be nice.” Suga responded. Daichi felt more relaxed. He went into the kitchen but didn’t leave the kitchen until the tea was ready. He handed Suga a cup of tea and sat on the other end of the couch, mimicking how Kuroo had sat. Suga did the same so that they could face each other. Suga took a sip of tea. 

“So,” he said with a pause, he stared at his tea and smiled, “You and Kuroo?” 

Daichi almost spit of his sip of tea. He laughed it off. 

“No. Kuroo is not my type.” Daichi said. He wasn’t lying though. He thought he had liked Kuroo. Kuroo was just new and exciting. He did not _like_ him. Suga chuckled. 

“Are you sure? You seemed to have enjoyed your time there. When do you plan on going back to see him?” 

“Suga, I’m not dating Kuroo.” Daichi said bluntly. Suga only stared back at Daichi. He didn’t like this Daichi. The Daichi that talked bluntly, almost crossing the borderline of being rude. Every word stung Suga like holding a rose by its stem. 

“Is everything okay, Daichi?” Suga asked staring at his tea, watching the ripples from his shaking hand. Daichi closed his eyes and sighed. He cleared his mind, opened his eyes, looked at Suga and smiled. 

“Yes, everything is fine. Thank you,” Daichi swallowed the lump in his throat, “It’s just that you keep talking about me being in a relationship. I think it should be obvious by now that I’m not in one.” 

Suga did an awkward kind of laugh and cocked his head. 

“Suga, I know you keep bringing it up to me,” Daichi said staring at Suga’s brown eyes, “But, you can tell me if you’re in a relationship.” 

Suga laughed into his tea and then took a sip. He didn’t have much that he wanted to say, so Daichi continued to talk. 

“I know you liked Azumane in the beginning of the year. I mean that’s why you tried so hard to get him back on the team. Tall, dark and handsome, right?” Daichi tried to laugh, but ended up clearing his throat instead. Suga laughed though. 

“I guess I kind of liked him.” Suga said taking a sip of his tea. 

“Well, you two seem like you’re really hitting it off lately. I think you should try asking him out.” Daichi suggested. Suga waved his hand to dismiss the thought. Suga stared into his tea. 

“I don’t like him. I like someone else. He’s dark and handsome, but not that tall.” Suga said looking up at Daichi and giving him a wink. Daichi thought about it. Yamaguchi? Suga liked Yamaguchi? 

“You haven’t mentioned this before.” Daichi said, as if he knew what Suga was talking about. Suga sighed. 

“Yeah, too bad he doesn’t pick up any of my hints.” Suga shrugged. Daichi took a sip of his tea. His mouth was completely dry. 

“Well, is there anything I can do to help?” Daichi said, sounding completely desperate just to be of assistance to his friend. Suga huffed. 

“Yeah, you could pick up my hints.” He mumbled, but just clear enough that Daichi heard every word. Daichi stared, forgetting he was taking a sip of his tea and let it pour down the corner of his mouth. Suga paid no mind to what he had just said and took a sip of his tea. 

“What?” Daichi asked with a strained voice. Suga threw his head back and let out an exaggerated sigh. 

“I like you, Daichi. I don’t understand what wasn’t clear about that,” Suga looked at Daichi, “I’ve always liked you, okay? Every time I try to bring it up, it’s just that—you’re just so—you’re so thick-headed that nothing I say or do seems to get my point across that I like you. But then you asked me over for dinner, and I thought, _wow, maybe he finally understands, and maybe he likes me too_ , but then you were talking to Kuroo, and you made it a point just now,” Suga said throwing his hand towards the street, “that you had so much _fun_ with Kuroo, and that you’d love to go back and see him.” 

Suga stopped talking and stared at his empty cup of tea, trying to focus his mind on not letting tears pour from his eyes. Daichi’s mouth hung open. Suga’s confession and the truth of how bitter Daichi had just acted pierced Daichi’s chest. 

“Daichi, it’s okay if you like Kuroo,” Suga whispered, “I know you aren’t really in tune with your feelings. Feelings are scary, but if you like Kuroo, I think that’s wonderful and I will support you without a doubt. I’ve liked you since our first year, and that’s okay.” 

“Suga--” 

“Please, don’t try and spare my feelings,” Suga smiled at Daichi, eyes scrunched a little too tight, “it’s really okay.” 

Daichi stared at Suga. Had Suga really liked Daichi since their first year? Had Daichi? 

“Suga,” Daichi said sitting his empty cup of tea on the floor, and he scooted so that he was sitting knee to knee with Suga, “I do not like Kuroo. I’m sorry if I upset you by saying that you liked Azumane. I’m sorry that I am so _dense_ that I didn’t realize you liked me. That’s my fault.” 

Suga stared in his empty cup again. Daichi lifted his chin up. Words were impossible for Daichi, especially while staring in Suga’s big brown eyes. 

“Over the weekend, I thought about you a lot,” Daichi said trying to swallow the permanent lump in his throat, “I like you too, Suga, and I apologize that I didn’t realize this sooner.” 

“You’re not lying to make me feel better are you?” Suga asked. 

“I would never lie to you, Suga,” Daichi smiled and after a moment asked, “Now, can I kiss you?” 

Suga felt his heart beating as if it were beating for the first time. Daichi was still holding Suga chin. He laughed and nodded his head. Daichi leaned in and pulled Suga in by his chin. The blood in Suga’s veins was pumping so rapidly he wasn’t sure if he had control over his body anymore. Suga felt Daichi’s chapped lips embrace his own. He had imagined this moment in his head thousands of times, and it never included almost crying. Suga had abandoned a hand from his tea cup to hold Daichi’s face. The nerves that Daichi thought had died off from jealousy and anger now thrived with life. He could kiss Suga forever. His kisses were sweet, and gentle, and pure. Suga broke off from the kiss. “I’m sorry I said all that stuff,” Suga started off, he looked at Daichi who stared at him intently, “I just—don’t know what came over me. I was just upset.” 

Daichi stared at Suga and waited for him to finish speaking. He nodded his head. 

“It’s okay, I know, I’m frustrating.” Daichi laughed. They both stared at each other. They’ve known each other for years, yet, this was a new way of knowing each other. Daichi cleared his throat and looked at the time. It wasn’t late for him, but it was somewhat late for Suga, so he asked, “Do you want me to walk you home?” 

“Yeah, sure, you can walk me half way.” Suga said stretching his arms above his head and yawning. 

“Oh, well, I can walk you all the way home,” Daichi paused and looked at his hands, “if you want.” 

“Mm, okay, I’d like that. Are you going to be okay walking home alone then?” Suga asked. Daichi felt like laughing. 

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure I’ll be just fine.” Daichi stood and offered a hand to help Suga up. He grabbed the cup from Suga’s hand and picked his own up from the floor and took them into the kitchen. When he came back to Suga, Suga was already at the door slipping his shoes on. Daichi put his own shoes on, grabbed his keys and they left Daichi’s empty house. 

They walked, mainly in silence. It was quiet, not because they didn’t have anything to say, but because they had too much to say. Suga bit his lip trying to hide his smile, Daichi didn’t care if Suga saw him grinning. The air held a chill, Suga had his hands in his jacket pocket. Maybe it wasn’t time for them to hold hands yet, Daichi thought. That was okay. 

“I’m glad you like me too.” Suga said with a smile and his eyes casted on the ground. Daichi looked at Suga while they kept walking. 

“I’m glad I do too,” Daichi stopped walking, Suga stopped next to him, “but, I have a question.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Do you—or I mean, does this,” Daichi said with a vague gesture, “Are we, like, together, I guess is what I’m trying to say?” 

Suga looked at Daichi, but then looked at his feet. 

“That would be nice, if you would like.” Suga looked back up at Daichi, but Daichi looked conflicted, or worried, maybe it was worry. 

“I would like to, but do you think it might cause problems with the team?” Daichi asked. 

“Oh, I never even thought about that.” Suga said looking off to the side. It was a last minute thought that Daichi had. He liked Suga, yes, but they were both captains of the volleyball team. 

“We can still be boyfriends though,” Daichi reassured Suga and touched Suga’s face with his cold fingers, “but maybe we can keep it quiet until we think of a way to tell them.” 

“You’re so smart Daichi, I’m sure we’ll think of a way soon.” Suga said, and then he kissed the captain ever so lightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this is probably my favorite chapter so I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! I also feel really bad making Asahi the like...bad guy, but there was no way around it.


	16. Mona Lisa

During class Suga would look over to Daichi and wink, reminding them both of their secret. Daichi didn’t like to call it a secret though, that was too… secretive, and Daichi was an honest kind of guy, well about most things. Every time Suga winked at Daichi, it told Daichi that Suga was not only looking at him, but that he was thinking of Daichi. It sent Daichi’s body aflame. He would smile back to Suga. He tried to wink once, but it didn’t work per se. Suga threw his head down into his arms so that no one saw him laughing. Daichi rolled his eyes and decided he would practice in the mirror. The best thing about dating Suga, was that they practically knew everything about each other. It was lunch time and Daichi approached Suga’s desk. 

“Would you like to go eat lunch on the roof?” 

“I forgot to bring a lunch today, but I would love to join you.” Suga said with a wink and he stood up. Daichi knew what that really meant. 

“Okay, well we can share my lunch then.” Daichi offered. Suga leaned over to whisper in Daichi’s ear. 

“How romantic.” Suga giggled and started to walk away. Daichi finally caught up to him and they headed to the roof of the school. Daichi knew that when Suga said he forgot a lunch, it usually meant that there was nothing in his house to make for lunch, so it wasn’t the first time that Daichi had shared his lunch with Suga. However, it was something that was unspoken. Suga had a younger brother, and he always made sure his younger brother went to school with a lunch, even if that mean that Suga didn’t. 

So they shared Daichi’s lunch, it was nothing special. He had watched Suga carefully when he made rice balls, so that was something Daichi made often now. Rice balls. The roof of the school was fairly chilly, they were the only ones there. 

“Do you want to do something after practice today?” Suga asked as he ran his fingers along Daichi’s hand. 

“Yeah,” Daichi said with a mouth full, he swallowed, “What do you want to do?” 

“Well, we could go out to eat or something, we can just go for a walk, or just go home and study. We don’t really even have to _do_ anything.” Suga said lacing his fingers through Daichi’s. Daichi felt his face go warm. 

“O-okay, well, sharing a lunch isn’t going to fill us up. Do you mind if I treat us to food after practice then?” Daichi said tightening the grip on Suga’s hand. 

“As long as you’re not making tofu again.” Suga joked, but quickly saw the embarrassment on Daichi’s face, “I was only joking, I’m so sorry. Your tofu was, well, it just was.” 

Daichi put his face down on the table, “No, no, we’ll get actual food,” he lifted his head up, “And whatever you get will actually be spicy.” 

“Oooh, I like this idea.” Suga said rubbing Daichi’s thumb with his own. 

Suga did the same thing during practice that he had done during class. Daichi was so distracted during practice that he ended practice early. After practice, Daichi and Suga started off walking alone. Suga looked behind them, he thought he heard footsteps. He felt Daichi nudge him, maybe it was by accident from walking so close together. 

“I hope you don’t mind me paying.” Daichi said looking at the ground. Suga remembered the night he yelled at Daichi for constantly paying for him. He resented that he did that. He smiled and Daichi and told him it was fine. They walked to the local restaurant constantly bumping shoulders accidentally. At the restaurant, Daichi ordered shoyu ramen and Suga ordered something spicy, Daichi could never keep up with Suga’s spicy foods. They thanked for their meal and started to eat. 

“Try it,” Suga poked a piece of tofu at Daichi, “just try it, it’s not that spicy.” 

Daichi sighed and took the bite of tofu that Suga offered him. Instant regret. He tried to chew it at first, no, too spicy, so he swallowed it whole. He looked at Suga with tears swelling in his eyes. 

“Not…that…spicy…” Daichi said trying to find his voice. Suga laughed and pushed Daichi’s glass of water to him, which Daichi drank almost all of it. 

“But it’s really not that spicy, Daichi.” Suga said finishing laughing. Daichi looked at him again. His eyes were blood shot and his sinuses were completely clear all of the sudden. 

“You’re amazing.” Daichi said trying to laugh off the fact that he thought he was going to die. He started eating his ramen again. 

“Thanks!” Suga chirped. He went to take another bite of his tofu, but he looked around them at first, they were definitely being watched. 

Daichi loved walking Suga home. He hadn’t realize what importance seven extra minutes with Suga meant, even though this was only the second time he had done it. It mean he could see Suga’s bright smile, it meant he could hear Suga’s laugh, and it meant that he wasn’t alone. Daichi also hadn’t realize that he didn’t like being alone in his house, sure, his mother was there sometimes, and every so often his father was asleep on the couch, but it wasn’t the same as being with Suga who laughed and smiled. He also like the moment that they arrived at Suga’s house. He held Suga’s lower back, and Suga’s arms draped around Daichi’s neck. Every kiss they shared always felt like the first. Daichi’s heart pounded and his stomach felt tingly. If there was a breeze, Daichi could smell Suga’s vanilla shampoo. And tonight Daichi could taste the spiciness that clung to Suga’s tongue. 

“Daichi, do you want to come in and sit for a little bit?” Suga offered, running a hand down onto Daichi’s chest. Oh gosh, Daichi had such perfect muscles. 

“Will your grandparents mind?” Daichi asked attempting to go for another kiss, but Suga turned his head and it landed on his cheek. 

“No, they’re probably asleep by now. So is my brother.” 

“I don’t know Suga, I don-” Daichi said but was interrupted by Suga kissing him. Suga pressed hard with his lips and grabbed the back of Daichi’s head. Daichi could hear Suga gasping for breathes in between kisses. 

“Okay,” Daichi pulled away, and kissed Suga again, “We can go in.” 

Suga giggled and took Daichi by the hands and led him inside. Suga shut the door ever so lightly and stepped on the heels of his shoes to slip them off. Daichi took his shoes off, but barely before Suga grabbed his face and planted his mouth on Daichi’s. Suga’s house was inhabited, but it was dark and everyone indeed was asleep. Suga, barely taking a break from kissing Daichi, guided him to the couch where he sat Daichi down and sat on top of Daichi so that they were chest to chest. Daichi’s hands fumbled for a place to rest, they glided over Suga’s ribs, Suga muffled a laugh into Daichi’s mouth. _That_ was hot. His hands finally landed on Suga’s hips. Suga slid his tongue into Daichi’s mouth and forced Daichi to do the same. Daichi’s blood rushed. He grabbed Suga’s shoulders and pushed him back. 

“Suga, don-” Daichi started and Suga made a shushing noise and put his finger of Daichi’s lips. Daichi’s lips were covered in Suga’s spit, and Suga ran his finger down Daichi’s lips and went in for another kiss. Daichi kissed him back once and grabbed Suga’s face. Daichi’s blood rushed. 

“Suga, don’t you think we’re moving fast?” Daichi whispered. Suga stopped what he was doing. Suga threaded his fingers through Daichi’s short hair. He stared at Daichi. 

“I’m so sorry,” He whispered, “I’m so sorry. If you’re uncomfortable, we can stop. I didn’t even ask. Are you okay with this?” 

One of Suga’s hands ran down from Daichi’s hair to his neck. Daichi’s blood rushed. He had never felt his blood rush so intensely before. Suga moved his other hand onto the hand that was on his face. Daichi wanted to kiss Suga so badly. He loved the way Suga’s hips fit into his hands. He wanted to grab Suga’s hips so badly. 

“No, no, I think I’m fine.” Daichi said and Suga smiled. So he did want he wanted to do. He kissed Suga. He put his hands on Suga’s hips. Has Suga done this many times before? Suga bit Daichi’s bottom lip, forcing Daichi’s head to tilt back. His blood rushed, Daichi could help but moan from the feeling. Under Daichi’s hands, Daichi felt Suga’s hips grind against him. No, he was _not_ fine. Suga released Daichi’s lip and— 

“Daichi, are you sure you’re okay?” Suga stared at Daichi. Daichi was wide-eyed and paralyzed. His blood stimulated his brain, and—no Daichi did not feel okay. Was Suga not effected by any of this? Had he done this a lot before? Suga knew exactly how hard to press his lips against Daichi’s, he knew exactly how to swirl his tongue around in Daichi’s mouth, he knew exactly where he should place his hands. Was Daichi just not good at this? Was Suga not being effected as Daichi was? This was really only the second person he had really kissed. Okay sure, this happened in the morning sometimes, but _that_ was different, his was lying in bed, not sitting on Suga’s couch, with Suga on his lap, with Suga grinding against him. 

“I uh,” Daichi’s voice cracked, “It’s just I—have you, uh—have you done this, a lot before?” Daichi’s eyes darted to find something to look at besides Suga’s eyes. Which was hard, Suga’s face was right in front of his. Suga leaned back putting most of his weight on Daichi’s knees. 

“What?” Suga’s face contorted with hurt. They made eye contact. Daichi looked at Suga, he could feel the seconds go by as his heart kept the beat. Realization hit. He shook his head. Suga pushed himself of Daichi and stood up and took a few steps away. Daichi walked over to face him. Suga didn’t look him in the eye. 

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Daichi said trying to readjust his pants, “I was just surprised as to how good of a kisser you are, that’s all I meant, okay, I promise.” Daichi said trying to stay quiet, but hold Suga’s attention. Suga looked at him from the corner of his eyes. He didn’t say anything. Daichi swung his arms around Suga in an enormous hug and whispered in Suga’s ear, “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. You’re so considerate of me, and I’m just a giant jerk. No one has ever made me feel like this before. I’m sorry that I said that, I didn’t mean to imply anything,” He sighed, “I’m just so nervous around you.” 

Suga could feel Daichi’s heart through his chest. He moved his arms up to complete the hug. 

“I’m nervous around you too, Daichi, but don’t say things like that,” they broke the hug, but Suga grabbed Daichi’s hands, “I asked if you felt uncomfortable, you can tell me what you’re feeling and we can talk it over.” Suga said pulling Daichi closer and nuzzling his face into Daichi’s neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I'm terrible at writing just day to day normalcy of a relationship, so I tried to spice it up... ha ha


	17. Early Mornings & Late Nights

Suga had forgiven Daichi, but Daichi hadn’t really forgiven himself. He promised himself to think about what he was going to say before he said them and to think about _how_ he said it. Before Daichi left Suga’s the previous night, Suga made Daichi promise to give him a little tap on the shoulder if he felt uncomfortable and that Suga would slow down after that. Daichi thought that Suga was clever for thinking about that, but he still felt bad about what he said, so he wasn’t sure how Suga was going to react in seeing him in class in the morning. Daichi really wanted to fight, energy from the slight miscommunication built up inside him. Maybe he’d go and fight after practice. Well, maybe not, he really wanted to talk to the old man about his fights in Tokyo, so maybe he would just wait until Friday night. That’s right, okay, he’ll wait until Friday night. 

Daichi was never early to school, he wasn’t late either, but he was always on time, he had perfect time management. Wake up, take a shower, walk to school, sit down, and then the bell would ring. Perfect time management, the best quality that he got from his mother. He walked through the halls and he ran into Noya and Tanaka. 

“Hey-” Daichi said with a wave. He heard Noya say something and run off quickly, leaving Tanaka dumbfounded, Daichi asked, “What was that about?” 

Tanaka stared at his captain with his mouth agape. He smiled wide and rubbed the back of his shaved head. 

“I have no idea,” Tanaka said looking at an invisible watch on his wrist, “Oh, hey, look at the time, class is about to start.” 

Tanaka turned on his heels when Daichi grabbed a hold of his shoulder. 

“I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into, but if you’re this nervous about it, maybe you should find a way out of it.” Daichi said with a brooding voice. He felt Tanaka shiver under the weight of his hold. Tanaka quickly shook his head and Daichi let him go so he could head to class. Daichi was prepared to give Suga a smile when he walked into the class, but Suga wasn’t in the class. So he sat down, slightly disappointed, slightly worried. He debated if he should text him or not, maybe not just yet, he didn’t want to seem clingy, and he could just be running a little late or—talking to Azumane outside of the classroom right this minute. Okay, Daichi thought, he doesn’t like Azumane, you only accused him of that, he’s your boyfriend, it’s okay. Suga walked into the class and he smiled and waved to Daichi. Daichi smiled back to Suga, although it wasn’t as prepared as when he first walked into the class. 

At lunch break, Daichi approached Suga. He grabbed the pen sitting on Suga’s desk and twirled it around his fingers. 

“I’m sorry about last night, again.” Daichi said putting the pen down and flashing a smile at Suga. He smiled back, like he always did. 

“I told you, it’s okay,” Suga reassured, “Want to go back up to the roof today?” 

Daichi made a noise in agreement. Suga had a small prepared lunch, so Daichi felt somewhat relieved. 

“Do you know what’s going on with Noya and Tanaka?” Daichi asked, shoving food in his mouth. Suga raised an eyebrow. 

“No, why?” 

“I ran into them this morning. Noya ran away and Tanaka just acted weird.” 

“Well, that doesn’t seem too much out of the ordinary.” Suga laughed. Daichi shrugged. They ate their lunch and snuck in a kiss before they went back inside the school. The touch lingered on Daichi’s lips as he sat in class. He rubbed his thumb against his bottom lip and looked over at Suga. He was writing the notes down from the board. 

Daichi wasn’t as distracted during practice as he was the day before. He felt as though the conflict from the previous night had put a barrier in between them. That was something they could get over though, and that energized Daichi to stay focused during practice. 

Suga walked outside for a breath of air, when Tanaka walked up to him. Suga smiled and offered Tanaka a drink of water from his water bottle. 

“No thanks. Uh, Suga-san. Can I ask you something?” Tanaka asked toeing the dirt with his shoe. Tanaka tossed a volleyball up and caught it with his hands. 

“Of course, Tanaka. Is something the matter?” Suga asked. Suga was the best listener. He could look you in the eyes and listen to you. He knew when he should give advice and when to hold back. He also said things that made you think. 

“I mean, I don’t think anything is the matter but, I just. I think I saw something I wasn’t supposed to see,” Tanaka said and Suga nodded, “Noya and I were just being nosy,” another nod, “and it’s just eating me alive,” a sympathetic nod, “so, I’m sorry for saying this,” a hesitant nod from Suga, “but, we, we uh, followed you and Daichi-san last night,” no more nods from Suga, “I’m sorry for following you, but we won’t tell anyone, Suga-san. I promise!” Tanaka finished and bowed to Suga. Suga laughed drily and hit Tanaka lightly so he would stand up straight. 

“It’s okay, that’s fine,” Suga said with a smile, he was also incredibly forgiving, he finished talking in a hushed tone, “It’s just complicated, it’s fine.” Suga offered his pinky, for Tanaka to promise. Tanaka accepted and curled his pinky around Suga’s. Daichi stuck his head out of the door of the gym so find where the two boys had gone. He raised an eyebrow at Suga. 

“Let’s get back to practice.” Daichi order. Tanaka boomed a _yeah!_ and headed back into the gym. Daichi stood half in the gym and half out. Suga walked by him with a finger over his lips that curled in a smile. 

After practice Daichi walked up to Suga and exchanged a look, his saying _what happened?_ and Suga’s saying _wait a minute_. They walked and truly felt alone. 

“So what was tha-” 

“Tanaka knows. So does Noya. They followed us last night after practice.” Suga interrupted. Daichi palmed his face. 

“I knew they were up to something.” Daichi said shaking his head. Suga laughed and wrapped his arm around Daichi’s. Suga’s warmth enveloped Daichi. 

“It’s okay though. Oh hey, I was thinking, I know you like to get to school right on time, but do you want to walk to school together in the morning? I was just thinking, I wake up pretty early so I can just walk on over to your house and then meet up with you and then we can walk to school together. I thought it would be nice, it’s completely up to you though, no pressure, of course.” Suga rambled. Daichi laughed when he was finished word vomiting. He pulled Suga closer to him and leaned his head closer to Suga. 

“I would love to.” Daichi smiled. As he walked Suga home, Suga talked about how _nervous_ Tanaka was when he approached him, he thought Tanaka was going to tell him that he was going to have to leave the team because of his grades but was too nervous to tell Daichi himself, or that, God forbid, him and Noya knocked the toupee off—well, Daichi made him stop there. _That_ was unspoken of. Suga covered his face with his hands and laughed. Daichi took Suga’s hand in his own, uncovering Suga’s face, and kissing him until he felt Suga become sluggish. Then Suga let out a big yawn. Daichi rubbed his thumb over Suga’s cheek and wished him a goodnight. 

As Daichi walked home, he pulled out his phone and pulled up Kuroo’s number. He wanted to send Kuroo a message saying something along the lines of, _Thanks for making me realize the feelings I had for Suga because I walk him home every night, and I kiss him, and he kisses me back, and I can’t believe I didn’t realize how much I liked him before_ ,” but he couldn’t say all that. 

_Thanks_

He thought it was simple and that Kuroo would know exactly what he was talking about. He also didn’t want to say too much because he still wasn’t sure if Kuroo liked him. The weekend was a complicated series of events that didn’t really add up to anything in Daichi’s mind, but stood as important solitary moments that he would remember for years to come. His phone rang. 

_You’re welcome, Sawamura ;)_

He guessed Kuroo knew what he was talking about. He put his phone in his pocket. When he walked up to the door of his house, he realized that both of his parents cars were there, also that all the lights in the house were on. He cautiously opened the door, peaking in before he took a full step. The only thing Daichi heard being emitted from the house was the sound of the TV. He walked in and closed the door. His father was asleep on the couch. He turned the TV off. He walked to his mother’s office. She was asleep holding the handle to a coffee mug. He made himself a cup of tea and thought about waking them so they could sleep in their bed. He didn’t. 

He woke up the next morning, he took a shower and got dressed. He heard a knock on the door; it was Suga. Daichi welcomed him with a hug, Suga reciprocated with a kiss. Daichi liked the thought of waking up in the morning and part of his routine being receiving a kiss from Suga. Suga walked into Daichi's house, slipped off his shoes and followed Daichi to the kitchen so he could make his lunch. Daichi looked over to Suga who was leaning on the kitchen counter. 

“Do you have a lunch today?” Daichi asked looking back down at his lunch. Suga frowned momentarily, but he wrapped his arms around Daichi. 

“No,” he whispered, “but don’t worry about it.” Suga said as he kissed Daichi’s shoulder. Suga felt Daichi scoff and Daichi pulled out an extra lunch box. 

“Well, I won’t worry about it then.” Daichi said as he prepared the second lunch. Suga let his arms fall to his side. 

“If you’re not worrying about it, then don’t make me a lunch.” Suga said, his pride poisoned his words. Daichi turned his head to look at Suga. 

“I’m not. I’m making myself two lunches, but” Daichi paused, “If you find yourself hungry, I don’t want my vice-captain to starve. He has a great mind, he’s a perfect setter, and, he’s a great kisser.” Daichi grinned at his boyfriend. Suga laughed and punched Daichi’s shoulder, but then he grabbed Daichi’s face with both of his hands and pressed his lips against Daichi’s. He could feel Suga smile as he started to pull away from the kiss, but Daichi placed his hands on Suga’s back and pulled him closer until their hips were touching. Suga rested his head on Daichi’s shoulder. 

“Thank you for making me lunch.” Suga whispered. Although Daichi didn’t mind if they stayed at his house like that all day, Suga insisted that they go to class. So they did, and even though they didn’t hold hands once they got to school, Daichi felt pride walking in the halls with his boyfriend, even though no one knew they were. 

During their lunch break, they decided to go back to the roof of the school. They ran into Tanaka and Noya while they walked in the hall. 

“Suga-san!” Noya yelled with a thumbs up, Tanaka covered his blushing face with a hand. Daichi rolled his eyes and Suga gave them a wave with his fingers. Daichi doubted whether or not Suga would actually accept the lunch he made for him, but he did accept it. Not only did he accept the lunch, but he ate it all, faster than Daichi finished his. Daichi tried to fluff out his family, but Suga did the opposite. Suga knew his family didn’t have everything, in fact, his family was missing a lot. He lived with his grandparents and his brother. His brother was five years younger, and Suga made sure he had everything he needed. His grandparents tried their best too, but they were old and couldn’t work as much as they needed too. Suga was also too stubborn to let Daichi bring him a lunch every day, or let Daichi buy him a snack after practice. Daichi often thought it was a combination of stubbornness and guilt, as in why should he have something that his brother can’t? 

During practice, every time there was an interaction between Daichi and Suga, which there often was, Noya would make a cheering noise and Tanaka would blush if he made eye-contact with them. Daichi rolled his eyes a lot during practice, but there was something about them _knowing_ that made Daichi feel good. Maybe he’d treat for pork buns after practice, he thought with a smile. So after practice Daichi got dressed, he felt like he was standing taller than normal. He walked outside to meet with the other team mates where he found Suga talking with _Azumane_. Okay, everything is normal, well besides the fact that Daichi still felt like an asshole from the way he talked during their last conversation. 

“Daichi!” Suga waved and offered a hand to Daichi, but realized they were at school and retracted it. Asahi rubbed the back of it head. 

“I was just about to ask Suga if you both would like to come over and study, I hate studying alone.” Asahi said. 

“Daichi let’s go study, mm?” Suga smiled. Daichi was quick to think during a fight, instincts and reactions, but he had to be careful with words. He found a lump in his throat as he finished walking over to the other third-years. He no longer felt like he was standing taller, he was at the same height he had always been at. 

“I would love to,” Daichi started, “But, I think my mom is actually going to be home and making dinner tonight.” 

Suga’s smile faltered. Suga _knew_ that was a lie. Suga nodded his head. Daichi said his goodbyes and started to walk home, but it wasn’t long until he ran into Tanaka, Noya, Kageyama and Hinata counting their money in their hands in front of the convenience store. He approached them without being noticed. 

“Who wants pork buns?” Daichi asked looming over the huddled boys. 

“Daichi-san! How come you’re not with Suga-san?” Noya asked out of surprise. Tanaka blushed, but the other two boys didn’t seem to understand what Noya meant, or just didn’t care. He smiled at Noya and placed his hand on his head and guided them all inside. He didn’t buy himself a pork bun, he wasn’t too hungry. He parted ways with his team and headed home. His mother wasn’t home. She wasn’t making dinner. His father wasn’t home either. He rested his head on the front door of his house. It was cold against his forehead. He opened the door, changed, and took the long way to the abandoned house so that way he wouldn’t run into Suga and Asahi, just in case. 

*** 

“Fresh meat!” The wolf beckons Daichi over to him, “How was the city life? I see it didn’t eat’chya alive.” 

Daichi laughs at The Wolf and tells him of his fights. 

“It looks like you’ve improved, and I haven't even see ya fight yet!” The Wolf howls with laughter and sends Daichi over to sign up. So he does, he signs up for a fight with a name that he’s felt he’s heard a lot before, Giant. 

Daichi feels like he’s standing taller _now_. He waits alongside The Wolf and his pack for his fight to be called, and when it is, they all howl for him. He smiles as he enters the ring. 

The giant, was not so much of a Giant as Daichi thought he’d be. The Giant is disappointing, Daichi thinks. He’s about as tall as Daichi but he’s scrawny and he’s got a large set of eyes that don’t stray from Daichi. 

“ _FIGHT!_ ” 

That’s quick. No, not the start of the fight, but the Giant, he’s quick. As soon as the announcer called the fight, the Giant’s fist grazed the side of Daichi’s face. Daichi wasn’t even sure if he had moved fast enough to even dodge the punch, but he did. 

Another swing from the other side, Daichi ducks and throws a punch to his opponent’s stomach. It knocks Giant back a few steps, but he jumps and shakes his whole body. Daichi rests his fists higher, he’s lucky if he can see the punch coming. He can only take so many punches to the face, but the rest of his body is a living punching bag. Maybe he’ll just wear his opponent out some. 

He tries it. His opponent punches him profusely, arms, stomach, ribs, twice to the face. Giant’s punches aren’t that powerful, he’s just fast. It doesn’t wear him out though, his opponent is still completely charged. Daichi waits for an opening, he harbors his energy. He waits, and there it is. He throws a right-handed hook, hitting his opponent’s cheek, knocking him over. His opponent jumps, but Daichi throws another punch right to his stomach, knocking his opponent off balance again. So Daichi throws another punch, and another. His opponent falls to the ground, so Daichi takes a few steps back. His opponent kneels and forces himself up. Daichi waits until he knows that Giant is fully ready to start the fight again. His opponent’s wide eyes make contact with Daichi’s and then that’s when Daichi knows. His opponent throws a punch, but it’s sluggish and Daichi dodges it easily. Daichi punches Giant a few times, undercuts, and his opponent gasps for air and falls to the ground. 

Daichi leaves the ring with his earnings. He walks over to The Wolf who slams a hand on Daichi’s back. 

“You comin’ back tomorrow night?” The Wolf asks Daichi. 

“You know it.” Daichi says before he leaves the abandoned house. 

*** 

He walked home, the long way again. Although it was late and Suga should already be home, Daichi didn’t want to take the chance. Daichi checked his phone for the time, but he noticed he had a message. 

_I hope dinner with your mother is going well, tell her I said hi!_

Daichi groaned, it had been 45 minutes since Suga sent the text. Should he just say he’d tell his mother that Suga said hi? Or should he say that his mother never showed up? They never had plans in the first place, but he still wasn’t sure about what he should say back. 

_I’ll tell her. I hope studying was fun_

Suga texted back quick. 

_It was…well it was studious, but it would’ve been fun if you were there. See you tomorrow morning :)_

That was always a nice thing to hear. Daichi won his fight, and was ready to see his boyfriend already. 

_Can’t wait to see you, goodnight :)_

Daichi thought about it and it was probably the only time Daichi had ever texted a smiley face, but he was actually smiling when he typed his message, so he only found it appropriate to add one in.


	18. Uncovered Lies?

When Suga knocked on the door, Daichi swung it open and pulled Suga in by his arms. Suga laughed out of surprise and swung into Daichi’s house. 

“Daichi~ you’re never this awake in the mornings.” Suga said spinning Daichi in circles in the doorway of the house. Daichi pulled Suga in close and gave him a kiss on his forehead. 

“I don’t know, I’m just happy to see you.” Daichi said giving Suga a kiss on the lips. And another kiss, because oh god did Suga have soft lips, and Suga tasted of mint and lavender. This, he thought, is the first thing he wanted to taste every morning. Mint and lavender. Suga ran his hands up and down Daichi’s torso feeling every ripple of muscle. Daichi tilted his more to the side, practically begging Suga for more, and he could feel Suga’s tongue exploring further into Daichi’s mouth. Their mixed saliva escaped from the corners of their mouths. Suga pressed him against the wall and slid his hands up to hold Daichi’s neck, and meanwhile Daichi’s hands found its way to Suga’s lower back and pulled him in closer but soon closer would mean their bodies merging as if they weren’t already one together. He heard Suga whine and felt Suga’s body roll against his. Daichi pressed his face into Suga’s, breathing heavily, walking and pressing Suga against the opposite wall. Suga kissing moved from Daichi’s mouth, to his cheek, and to his jaw bone. Daichi felt his blood rush. _Not now,_ Daichi thought, so he brought his hand up and tapped Suga on the shoulder, twice, slowly. Suga stopped where his last kiss had landed. 

Daichi dropped his head to Suga’s ear. 

“Maybe not before school,” Daichi whispered, and kissed Suga’s cheek bone, “Also, maybe not while the front door is still open.” 

Suga turned his head to see the open door, and he laughed. He looked back at Daichi, ran his hands down Daichi’s torso again and kissed him on the lips. 

“Yeah, after school with the doors closed sounds perfect to me,” Suga whispered and winked at Daichi. Daichi let out nervous laugh and pressed his forehead against Suga’s, “But not today after school. I have to help my brother with some homework.” 

“You’re so good, Suga.” Daichi said with a smile. Suga shrugged. 

“I do what I can.” Suga laughed and Daichi could feel the vibrations from it. Daichi gave Suga a kiss. 

“Do you have a lunch today?” Daichi asked stepping back from Suga. Suga just let out an exhausted sigh, rolled his eyes, and finally looked back at Daichi. 

“Yes, I have a lunch today. Now let’s get a move on before we’re late to school.” Suga said as he slapped Daichi’s butt. Daichi raised an eyebrow at him and made his way to the kitchen. He made his lunch, grabbed everything else for school, kissed Suga once more before he wouldn’t be able to, and then they left for school. 

So they ate lunch together, on the roof like they had been. Daichi thought that he was in a good mood, but Suga hadn’t stopped talking since their lunch period started. So when Suga took a bite out of his lunch Daichi took the brief moment to ask Suga a question. 

“What homework are you helping your brother with?” 

“Maf-” Suga said with a mouth full of food and laughed at himself. 

“How long do you think it will be? Maybe we can go for a walk later tonight,” Daichi said grabbing a hold onto Suga’s hand, making direct eye contact with him, “It’s so nice out.” 

“Mm, maybe, but I’m not really sure how long it will take. He’s stubborn, ya know?” Suga winked at Daichi, “So maybe tomorrow night.” 

Daichi nodded his head, and then Suga started off on a tangent. He didn’t let go of Daichi’s hand until it was time to go back to class. Before they left the roof, however, Suga looked around and once he knew no one was watching, and sneaked a kiss on Daichi’s lips. 

After practice, Daichi bought pork buns for the half of the team that walked with them. They stood outside the shop and talked about their up-coming practice match with Nekoma. Daichi ignored the part of his mind that reminded him about how Kurro’s lips felt on his own. They all parted their separate ways, except Daichi and Suga. Daichi walked his boyfriend to his house. Suga’s brother was staring out the window to them. Daichi waved, and the young boy waved back. The Sugawara brothers loved each other very much. Daichi felt bad he asked how long Suga was going to be helping his brother with schoolwork now. 

“Have fun doing homework tonight.” Daichi said and he wrapped Suga in a hug. 

“Thanks, I will.” Suga leaned back. Daichi wanted to kiss Suga, but he could feel innocent eyes watching them both. He watched as Suga slowly closed his eyes, and puckered his lips, and leaned his head in. He kissed Daichi, Daichi of course kissed him back. 

“You have no shame.” Daichi said smirking. Suga laughed and shook his head. Daichi watched as Suga trotted inside sticking his tongue out at his blushing brother. 

Daichi went home. Both cars were in the driveway and all the lights were on. He walked inside his house expecting to see his father passed out on the couch and his mother’s eyes glazed over while she stared mindlessly at documents. His mother was cooking dinner. His father was also in the kitchen helping his mother. Daichi wasn’t sure if he walked through a time portal to a time where his parents weren’t so busy and tired with work. Daichi slowly made his way into the kitchen. His mother turned around. 

“Oh, hello, Daichi,” She smiled, “I’m making dinner. Would you like some?” 

Daichi stood in the doorway of the kitchen, mouth slightly agape. 

“Oh, uhm, yes please.” Daichi stuttered. His mother pulled out another plate and sat it on the counter. His father stared at Daichi. 

“How are you doing in school?” He questioned Daichi. Daichi bowed his head. 

“I have all A’s.” Daichi said. His father nodded in approval. Daichi wished he hadn’t said he’d stay for dinner. 

“And your plans for college?” another question. 

“Hosei.” Daichi replied without thinking. His father showed no signs of surprise, although Daichi knew he was. His father hummed in reply, and didn’t speak for the rest of the evening. Daichi was thankful for that. His mother was better at making small talk anyway. Daichi wondered if he was going to be like his parents when he grew up, hopefully not. Immediately after dinner, his father fell asleep watching TV, like always. His mother cleaned dishes, and Daichi looked at the time. He was itching to go for a fight. 

Daichi changed and grabbed his bag and told his mother he was going for a jog. So he left the house and made his way to the abandoned house. 

Suga finished helping his brother with his homework around ten, somewhere around then. Suga snuck into his room and opened the small drawer of his desk. He pulled out some money and tucked it into his pants pockets. He told his brother that he was going out, and then he left. He walked to the closest sweet shop that was still open. He walked in and apologized to the people working say that he’d only be a moment. Which he was. He went straight to the ice cream section and picked out six different flavors of mochi ice cream. He took all the money out of his pocket, paid for the ice cream and left. 

Suga thought about a lot of things. He thought about how even though he had Daichi had only been _boyfriends_ since the beginning of the week, he liked Daichi very much. He often fantasized about being in a relationship with Daichi. Over the years, he had gotten to know the captain very well, that was an important thing to do when you liked someone, when you wanted to be in a relationship with someone. He thought he knew Daichi very well, and he thought Daichi would enjoy surprise mochi ice cream. Suga walked to Daichi's house. All the lights were on. He thought about what Daichi was doing. He was probably studying. Daichi was smart, even if he didn’t want to admit it. So, Suga walked up to the door and knocked. He heard footsteps approach the door. Suga was going to be honest with himself, he was so excited, he couldn’t wait to see Daichi’s face. Suga would be all like, _Oh, yeah, guess my brother isn’t as stubborn as I though,_ or he could say, _I just wanted to surprise you!_ or even better, -- Daichi’s mom opened the door. 

“Oh! Hello Mrs. Sawamura. How are you?” Suga said out of surprise. 

“I’m very well, how are you, Sugawara?” She replied back with a smile. 

“I’m well,” Suga said watching his grammar, “Is Daichi home?” 

“I’m sorry, he left a little while ago. He said he was going for a jog. You can always give him a call, he should have his phone on him.” 

“Oh, no, no,” Suga waved his hand dismissing the suggestion, “That’s fine. I’ll stop by tomorrow. I had a surprise for him, but it can wait. How were your dinner plans with Daichi the other night?” Suga asked, he was also very good small talk. Daichi’s mother raised an eyebrow. 

“Well, I’m sure I have been stuck at work late most of the week. Tonight was the first night we’ve had dinner together in a while.” Daichi’s mother said thoughtfully and then smiled at Suga. Suga did hear Daichi correct the other day, right? He had dinner plans with his mom so he couldn’t go and study with him and— 

“Ah, slight miscommunication error then,” Suga smiled, “It was nice seeing you again, Mrs. Sawamura.” 

“Mm, likewise. Did you need a ride home, Sugawara?” Daichi’s mother asked. 

“No, thank you. Goodnight.” Suga said taking a few steps back. Daichi’s mother said goodnight to Suga and waved as he walked away from the house. Maybe he would run into Daichi on his way back home. Maybe it was just a miscommunication error. Maybe Daichi’s mom forgot about their dinner plans. Maybe.


	19. How to be in a Relationship With Your Bestfriend

Daichi looked at the clock when he heard a knock at the front door, it was ten o’clock. He knew his parents weren’t home so he dragged himself out of bed, quite literally. His fight the previous night didn’t go as planned. He lost his fight. His body was completely sore. His shoulder was stiff and his cheek hurt when he smiled. 

So his cheek hurt when he opened the door and saw Suga. Daichi was still in his pajamas, well a t-shirt and sweat pants. 

“Good morning sleepyhead!” Suga chirped and gave Daichi a kiss on the lips. Daichi took a step back to let Suga in the house. 

“How come you’re here so early? I thought we were going to hangout tonight.” Daichi said, he felt his heart pounding. Suga presented him the box of Mochi. 

“I thought we could make a day out of it. I got you something.” Suga winked. Daichi opened the box. Ice-cream? This early in the morning? Daichi laughed. 

“Ice-cream for breakfast?” Daichi asked taking the box and walking over to the couch. Suga followed. 

“Well, I actually stopped by last night,” Suga started off, Daichi was mentally punching himself in the gut, “But your mom said you went out for a jog, so I just decided to come back in the morning. So here I am.” 

It never crossed Daichi’s mind that Suga would stop by for a surprise visit while he was out fighting. Of course he lost his match last night. He should have just stayed home. 

“Why didn’t you stay and wait for me?” Daichi said grabbing a hold of Suga’s hand. Suga shrugged his shoulders. He moved so he was sitting on Daichi’s lap and he rested his head on Daichi’s shoulder. He kissed Daichi’s neck. 

“I hope you like your surprise.” Suga whispered into Daichi’s neck. Goosebumps rose on his skin. 

“I do.” Daichi said. Suga thought he was reaching for the Mochi, but Daichi grabbed his phone instead. He opened the camera, and Suga was already smiling and putting up his peace sign. Daichi laughed and took the picture. Suga sat up and opened the Mochi box and asked Daichi what flavor he wanted. 

“You.” Daichi smiled and Suga gave him a kiss allowing Daichi to taste the inside of Suga mouth. Suga pulled away and grabbed one of the ice-creams and took a bite, and gave it to Daichi to take a bite. 

They ate all the Mochi, and Daichi took dozens of pictures of them eating the ice-cream. They made out after they were done all the ice-cream. Then they sat on the couch, Suga curled on Daichi’s lap, and he drew designs and wrote secret messages on Daichi’s arm. 

“Can I ask you something?” Suga’s voice shook. Daichi tightened his hold on Suga and closed his eyes. He could fall asleep sitting like this with Suga. 

“Mhm, you can ask me anything.” Daichi responded. Suga hesitated. Daichi opened his eyes and looked at Suga. He moved a stray hair out of Suga’s face. 

“Well, when I stopped by last night, I talked to your mom, and she,” Suga squinted his eyes, “Did you lie to me?” 

Daichi’s hand dropped from Suga’s face and he furrowed his brows. He didn’t respond. He didn’t know what Suga was referring to. 

“Never mind.” Suga said shaking his head. Daichi tried to sit up straight. 

“Wait, wait,” Daichi looked into Suga’s eyes, “What are you talking about.” 

“Nothing. I don’t know. It’s fine.” Suga hated himself for bringing it up now. He wanted to keep sitting on Daichi’s lap, but he wanted to get up and walk home. 

“It’s obviously not nothing since you brought it up. Tell me what you’re thinking about.” 

“I’m thinking about how silly it was to bring this up.” Suga laughed lightly. Daichi sighed. Suga felt himself frowning, so he added, “It’s just that your mom said that you didn’t have dinner plans the other night. So I wanted to know if you lied to me to get out of studying with me and Asahi.” 

Oh. He did lie to Suga. He forgot about that. 

“I did.” Daichi confessed. He saw no reason in lying any further. Suga sat up and stared at Daichi’s eyes, trying to see the truth. He moved himself off Daichi and kneeled on the couch so he could see Daichi better. Suga looked hurt. Maybe he should’ve lied. 

“Why?” Suga demanded. Daichi sighed heavily, and Suga continued, “Why? You could’ve just said that you didn’t feel like studying. Why did you have to lie? Can you please explain why you are acting like this around Asahi?” 

There it was. 

“Because, Suga, I’m jealous, ok.” Daichi slammed his hand on his face. Suga moved Daichi’s hand away from his face. 

“Daichi. I don’t know why you’re jealous. We’re all friends. We’ve been friends since our first year, and we’re graduating as friends also,” Suga smiled, “We might all be friends, but you’re my only boyfriend. You need to tell me these things instead of making up petty lies. That was silly of you.” Suga said and booped Daichi’s nose. It was silly of him. 

“I’m sorry. You’re right.” Daichi said, but Suga shook his head. 

“I think you should apologize to Asahi when you see him next.” Suga suggested. Daichi agreed with him. It had only been an hour since Suga knocked on his door. It was going to be a long day, but in a good way. 

“I’ll go get dressed, and we can go out.” Daichi said standing up to go to his room. Suga followed him. Not _this_ again. Ok, he had changed in front of Suga a thousand times. 

Suga followed Daichi to his room and sat down on his bed. Suga always knew how to make himself at home, no matter where he was. Daichi pulled his shirt off and opened his closet for a new shirt. 

“What are we doing today? Should I wear something nice?” Daichi asked, studying his closet. He heard Suga gasp. Daichi spun on his heels to check on Suga. Suga sat on Daichi’s bed, jaw dropped, and face red. 

“Daichi! When did you get so buff?” Suga asked. Daichi crossed his arms as if trying to cover himself up, but to Suga, it only made Daichi’s muscles stand out more. 

“Shut up.” Daichi laughed. Suga walked over to Daichi with an insidious grin. 

“Can I touch them?” 

“Touch what?” 

“Your muscles.” Suga said with his hand already following the curves of Daichi’s muscles. 

“Suga you’re being weird,” Daichi laughed and turned back to his closet, “What should I wear?” 

“Hmm, this one.” Suga said pointing a shirt out. It was a dark grey sweater, one that his parents would make him wear with a polo underneath when they went to work parties. Daichi groaned at Suga who just said, “Well then, don’t ask me.” 

Daichi wore the sweater. Suga also saw another sweater of Daichi’s, but that he wanted to wear. Daichi rolled his eyes and gave it to him to wear. When Suga took off his shirt, Daichi cooed over Suga muscles and tickled him. 

They left the house, both warm in their sweaters. They walked around town until they found a park. A tree with a considerable amount of shade called their names, so that’s where they went. Daichi sat against the tree and Suga laid on his stomach pulling out pieces of grass attempting to make a whistle. Daichi rubbed circles onto Suga’s back. Suga had been playing with the same piece of grass for a while when he huffed and threw it aside. The circles on Suga’s back slowly stopped. 

“I don’t know what I’m going to do after we graduate.” Suga said rubbing his fingers through the grass. Daichi started drawing the circles again. 

“What do you mean?” Daichi asked. Suga sighed. 

“Like, I don’t know if I’m going to college or not. I know you’re probably set on going to Hosei, but I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Suga repeated. Daichi didn’t know that Suga wasn’t thinking about going to college. Suga was smart, he deserved to a good university and graduate and get a good job. Daichi wasn’t sure if he was really going to Hosei or not. 

“What else would you do if you didn’t go to college?” Daichi asked, and Suga pondered for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. 

“Get a job. Help out my grandparents. Make sure my brother has everything he needs,” Suga paused, “Maybe I’ll just go to community college.” 

“Well, I think you’ll do whatever is best,” Daichi said, his finger doing figure eights on Suga’s back now, “I really don’t know if I’m going to Hosei. Do I really want to follow in my parents' footsteps?” Daichi asked himself out loud. No, he really didn’t want to. Suga turned his head to look at Daichi in the face. 

“You don’t have to follow in your parent’s footsteps,” Suga’s face softened, “But you should definitely go to college somewhere.” 

“Well you should too, but that’s your decision to make.” Daichi’s hands now rested on Suga’s back. He could feel his hands rise and lower with every breath Suga took. Suga’s eyes closed and he nodded his head slowly. 

“Yeah, I know.” Suga whispered into the grass. 

So they sat. Daichi could feel Suga’s breathing become slower and deeper. He looked and saw that Suga had fallen asleep. Daichi almost started giggling. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned the camera on. He took at least a dozen pictures of Suga sleeping. He set on as his wallpaper on his phone. He’d show them to Suga later. 

Daichi closed his eyes too, but he wasn’t able to fall asleep. The shadow of the tree was leaving them for the opposite side of its trunk. The sun was warm on Daichi, but not as warm as he would’ve been if he had Suga in his arms. 

Daichi heard a whistle in the air. He opened his eyes and saw Suga with his hands up to his mouth. 

“I finally got it.” Suga smiled and whistled through the sliver of grass. Daichi chuckled. It was probably about two in the afternoon he thought. He thought this because he felt himself growing hungry. He stretched his arms over his head and then toppled over Suga so that he was laying right next to him. He kissed Suga on his forehead. 

“Do you want to go out for lunch? We could just get a snack, takoyaki?” Daichi offered. 

“Can it be spicy, please?” Suga pleaded. Daichi already felt his eyes watering. Ok, he thought, he could eat something spicy, he could. 

He could. It was physically possible. He _could_ eat it, it was edible. His body put up a fight. He watched Suga pop each takoyaki in his mouth with ease. Daichi’s stomach rumbled. His eyes watered, and his tongue was shriveled in his mouth. He didn’t eat that much before he told Suga that he could have the rest. How did Suga eat food _that_ spicy? Daichi wanted to throw up. 

He couldn’t decide if Suga had even realized that Daichi was dying inside. Suga did see Daichi’s eyes tearing up and face burning red. 

“Daichi, it’s not that spicy,” Suga finally spoke up, “You’re making silly faces.” 

Daichi turned his head at Suga and wiped a final tear from his face. He grinned at his boyfriend and pulled out his phone. 

“You want to see some really funny faces?” Daichi asked, pulling up the pictures he had taken of a sleeping Suga. He offered his phone to Suga who gasped once he saw the pictures. His eyes rose to meet Daichi’s. 

“Daichi!” Suga punched his boyfriend’s arm, “You took these while I was sleeping?” 

Daichi laughed and Suga scrolled through all the pictures that Daichi took. 

“Yeah, well, you’re really cute when you’re sleeping” Daichi kissed Suga on the lips. Even Suga’s lips were spicy. 

“Do you mind if I sleep over tonight? My brother is at someone’s house for the night,” Suga wrapped his leg in between Daichi’s and stared at him with slitted eyes, “and I don’t want to be alone.” 

Daichi heart stopped and pounded in his chest at the same time. _They had slept over each other’s houses thousands of times._ He sat his hand on Suga’s thigh. 

“Yeah, of course.” 

The rest of the day was slow, and every moment was better than the last. Daichi's favorite part of the day was when it was night. This was why he wanted to be with Suga. So they made their way back to Daichi’s house, holding hands and talking about the stars, and there were so many stars. 

They traveled through Daichi’s house, collecting all the free blankets within the house and then wrapped themselves in the blankets and sat in front of the couch and watched TV. Suga’s head fell on Daichi’s shoulder. 

“Are you going to fall asleep already?” Daichi whispered into Suga’s hair. 

“Mm, no.” Suga hummed. 

“I don’t believe you.” 

“I won’t, I promise. Want to make some tea?” Suga asked. He didn’t need to ask, of course Daichi would make Suga tea. Daichi stood and shred his blankets off onto Suga who then turned into a mountain of blankets. 

“You won’t fall asleep before I came back in, will you?” Daichi asked, but all he could hear was muffled noises from under the blankets. So Daichi bent down and picked Suga up who yelped at the suddenness but then burst into a fit of giggles. Blankets draped off of Suga and onto the floor. He carried Suga into the kitchen and then let him down. Suga kissed him. Daichi started to boil the water, and they stayed in the unlit kitchen, with each other’s arms around their waists. 

“Where are your parents tonight?” Suga asked. Daichi felt the vibrations of Suga voice in the crook of his neck. 

“Does it matter? You’re here.” Daichi rubbed Suga’s back. 

“Yeah, but I’m not your parents.” 

“No, but,” Daichi paused, “You see me more than they see me.” 

The silence filled the room, and then the water whistled. Their eyes connected. Daichi broke off and made themselves tea. They headed back to their mound of blankets, but moved to the couch. They flipped through the channels of the TV making fun of the names of drama’s and documentaries. After tea, and after a show was decided on, Suga’s eyelids grew heavy. Daichi could feel the difference in Suga’s breathing and knew he had fallen asleep. Suga always fell asleep early. Suga was asleep. Daichi shifted Suga so that Suga was laying on the couch. Daichi attempted to take up as little room as possible on the couch, laying so that his feet were by Suga’s head, and Suga’s feet were by his head. So Daichi watched the purple glow from the TV shine off of Suga’s pearly white skin and hair. 

Daichi twitched his foot, and then kicked his leg. 

“Ow! Daichi!” Suga yelped, “That was my face!” 

Daichi opened his eyes and saw Suga holding onto Daichi’s leg. His face was flushed and Daichi thought that was cute. That was until Suga started tickling that bottom of Daichi’s foot again. 

“Suga, stop!” Daichi laughed, and Suga didn’t want to, Daichi’s laugh was the nicest thing, “I’ll kick—hah—you again—ha!” 

Suga wrapped his legs around Daichi’s to keep them still as he skipped his fingers on the bottom of Daichi’s foot. Daichi’s laugh was full of heart and Suga wasn’t sure if he had ever heard Daichi laugh before. Suga stopped and smiled at Daichi. Suga scooted his way on top of Daichi and laid so that he was behind Daichi. Daichi could feel Suga’s breathes on the back of his neck. It was warm, but so was Suga’s arms that draped around him. Daichi knew that Suga had fallen asleep again since his breathing was deep. Daichi threaded his fingers through Suga’s and saw the blackness of the TV. His parents must have come home at some point. 

After another hour of Daichi and Suga laying together, Daichi felt his stomach growl. Wait no, that was Suga’s. Daichi thought about laughing, but held it in, Suga didn’t seem to be awake yet. Daichi slipped out of Suga’s arms and headed into the kitchen. 

He made rice and tea. 

Daichi heard Suga whine his name from the other room. Daichi’s blood rushed. He took a deep breath and poured Suga a cup of tea. He walked to the couch and handed the cup of tea to Suga. 

“Thank you, but this isn’t what I wanted.” Suga said and took a sip of tea. Daichi took a second to think. 

“Shutup.” Daichi laughed and shoved Suga’s leg with his own. Daichi started heading back into the kitchen. 

“Make me!” Suga said so that Daichi would hear him as he headed into the other room. Suga heard footsteps stop. He sat his tea down on the table and felt a pressure on his lips. Daichi laughed in his face. Suga brought his hands up to Daichi’s face and kissed him again. 

“I made rice for breakfast, I hope you weren’t expecting anything else.” Daichi smiled on Suga’s lips. 

“Of course not.” Suga said and kissed Daichi again. So Daichi pulled Suga into the kitchen and they sat and ate rice together and drank their tea. 

“Do you want to me walk to home after this?” Daichi asked with a mouth full of rice. 

“Can we watch a movie before I go home?” Suga asked. 

“Yeah, of course.” Daichi smiled. 

After breakfast the two boys reigned to their mountain of blankets and flipped through the channels. They found a movie that was already 15 minutes in, but it was an action movie that Suga loved, so Daichi groaned but put the movie anyway. Suga was enthralled in the movie and Daichi was enthralled in how invested Suga was in the movie. The movie left off and a cliffhanger and the credits started the roll. Daichi went to stand himself up when Suga caught his arm. 

“Wait, Daichi,” Suga said with widened eyes, “The sequel is coming on next, let’s watch it.” 

Daichi stared back at Suga and smiled. 

“Ok.” 

Suga was wrapped around Daichi’s arm and every time a fight would break out, Suga would bounce in his seat and bop Daichi’s arm around. And every time something intense happened, Suga would drag Daichi to the edge of the seat with him. The credits rolled again, and at that time, the sun was sitting on the horizon. 

“We missed lunch.” Daichi said rolling his head to look at Suga. Suga yawned. 

“I’m used to it.” 

“Well, do you want to make dinner with me or do you want to go out for dinner?” Daichi asked. Suga’s face contorted some. 

“I should probably go home and check on my brother.” Suga stared at their hands that held each other. 

“Mm, ok. I’ll walk you home then.” Daichi said. He had learned not to push anything on Suga. Suga didn’t stand for it and would turn the conversation around on Daichi anyway. 

Daichi walked Suga home, and they made out in front of his house like always. Daichi watched as Suga walked up to the door of his house and closed it. Daichi’s phone rang as he walked home. 

_Yo, Sawamura. Come back to Tokyo soon~ I miss you. Strictly business though, I respect you and your relationship._

Daichi thought that Kuroo was a good friend. Kuroo respected Daichi and wanted to spend time with him. 

_Thank you, Kuroo. I will let you know what weekend I have free._

Daichi forgot how quickly Kuroo texted back. 

_I get it, you’re in a relationship and don’t have time for me anymore. Let me know when you want to come down ;)_

Kuroo also thought he was funny, but that was ok because Daichi thought he was sort of funny too. Daichi also thought that Suga was funny too, but in a more subtle way. A way that Daichi felt more comfortable with. 

When Daichi got home, his mother was just pulling up in the driveway. She got out of the car and smiled at her son. 

“Hello, have you seen Sugawara, he came over the other night. He is such a sweet kid.” His mother unlocked the door, walked in and waited for Daichi to come in. 

“Yes. He came over yesterday morning.” Daichi replied. _That_ was a little weird. Daichi had guessed that his mother had come home late last night and turned the television off. “Did you come home last night?” 

His mother gave him a confused look. 

“No, I guess I forgot to tell you then. I had a conference with another firm in a different time-zone. I had to stay in a hotel in the city.” 

His father had come home for once then. 

“Ah, ok, I was just wondering.” Daichi smiled at his mother and headed straight to his room and fell asleep after over-thinking his father coming home. 

Daichi woke up on Monday morning from his phone ringing. Suga’s face popped up on his screen. He swiped the call to answer it. 

“Hello?” Daichi said in the midst of yawning. 

“Goodmorning sleepyhead. Come let me in the door. Did you forget to set an alarm last night?” Suga rambled on the other line of the phone, and on the outside of Daichi’s house. Daichi sat straight up and muttered something under his breath. He heard Suga laugh and then the phone hang up. Daichi ran to the door and let Suga in, but by the time Suga took a step in his house, Daichi had already ran back to his room to get dressed. Suga strolled around the house, crossing paths with Daichi every once and a while. 

“Daichi, we’re not running that late. Calm down.” Suga hummed while he stood in the doorway of the bathroom watching Daichi brush his teeth with extreme speed. Daichi rinsed his mouth out and turned to Suga and slipped his tongue down Suga’s throat. Suga could taste the coldness of the mint of Daichi’s mouth. He finished kissing Suga and headed off into the kitchen to make his lunch. 

“Do you need a lunch today?” Daichi asked shoving food together. 

“No, no, I made one today, thank you.” Suga said watching Daichi scramble to make his own lunch. Soon, they were out the door and on their way to school, but not before another kiss was exchanged. 

After practice, Daichi walked Suga home. 

“Want to study tomorrow? We have a big test next week.” Suga said and tightened his grip on Daichi’s hand. 

“I’d love to. Do you want to come over after practice?” Daichi asked. 

“Mm, yeah. We can do that.” Suga said as he swung their arms up in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here's another long chapter. I promise things are going to pick up... :)


	20. Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a pre-warning, there's some blood in this chapter.

After practice on Tuesday, Suga and Daichi were the last ones to leave. They had to have a small meeting with Kiyoko, Coach Ukai and Takeda. Nothing important really, or at least that’s what Daichi thought. He really was just thinking about how much he wanted to hold Suga’s hand. He felt his fingers twitch. Finally Ukai called it quits saying he was tired. 

“Kiyoko, please allow me and Daichi to walk you home. It’s really dark out tonight.” Suga offered, or more like pleaded. 

“Mm, okay.” Kiyoko agreed without much hesitation. Okay, Daichi was happy to walk Kiyoko home, she didn’t have anyone to walk with her tonight. Kiyoko was quiet, and she was the sweetest girl that Daichi knew, besides Yui. 

So the walk to Kiyoko’s house was quiet. Daichi would accidently swing his arm and accidently hit Suga’s butt. Every time he did Suga would flash a devilish smile at Daichi, which made Daichi want to do it even more. 

The boys said goodbye to Kiyoko and watched as she entered her house safe and sound. As soon as Kiyoko disappeared behind the walls of her house, Daichi wrapped Suga in a hug and squeezed Suga’s butt. Suga laughed and kissed Daichi’s neck. 

“Okay, let’s go back to your house before Kiyoko sees us.” Suga laughed pulling away from Daichi but grabbing his hand instead. Kiyoko’s house wasn’t far from Daichi’s house, but it was a little out of the way. As they walked Daichi would sometimes bring Suga’s hand up to his mouth and kiss all of his knuckles. 

They walked a few blocks that were completely empty of people, not life because a fox or two had ran across the street. They were two blocks from Daichi’s house when they saw two people walking towards them in the distance. It was probably no one that they knew, so Daichi and Suga continued to hold hands. 

As they passed by the two figures, they paid no attention to them. The footsteps stopped. 

“You just going to ignore us, punk?” One of the figures called out. Daichi’s heart stopped beating. He turned his head around. He didn’t recognize the guys face at all. He assumed that it was The Wolf or one from his pack. Daichi didn’t recognize this guy at all. He turned his head back around and continued to walk. 

“Do you know that guy?” Suga whispered in his ear. 

“No.” Daichi said looking straight ahead. 

“Look at this big shot!” The same guy called out. Daichi heard footsteps running towards him. Before the guy could grab Daichi’s shoulder, Daichi turned around and put a protective arm across Suga’s chest. Instincts. 

“What do you want?” Daichi asked. The guy standing in front of him smiled. He- he was missing a tooth. Daichi wanted to run. He slightly pushed Suga back. 

“Daichi, who-” Suga started. 

“Oh yeah, protect your little boyfriend, punk. You remember me.” The guy said advancing towards Daichi. Daichi saw the guy’s friend also walking towards them. 

“Daichi, what’s going on?” Suga whispered with a hoarse voice. Daichi cursed in his mind. How was he supposed to get away from these guys with Suga here? How was he supposed to protect Suga from these guys? Last time he was alone and defending himself. These guys wanted to fight him again. He couldn’t fight in front of Suga. He wanted to look at Suga. He wanted to tell Suga that it was going to be ok. He wanted to tell Suga that he could handle this. He wanted to tell Suga to _run_. 

The guy with the missing tooth took another step towards Daichi, closing the distance between them. Daichi smashed his fist into the guys face. He watched as the guy fell to the ground. The other guy ran up to Daichi, grabbing his shirt and punching Daichi in the face. He heard Suga call his name. But this guy took a bunch of cheap shots. He punched the guy in his stomach, forcing him to take a step back, and then he punched him in the face. Daichi took a step closer to the guy still standing, but he felt something grip his leg. The guy with the missing tooth pulled Daichi’s leg out from underneath him, pulling him to the ground. He felt skin scrap off the palms of his hands when he caught his fall. He felt a punch to his face and then a kick to his gut. He wheezed. He needed to catch his breath. The guy with the missing tooth was attempting to stand. Daichi looked over to the other guy-where? 

“Get away from him! Suga! Run!” Daichi screamed. Suga stared at Daichi, a literal deer in headlights. Daichi scrambled to his feet, shoving the guy with the missing tooth down with all his force. He sprinted towards the guy walking towards Suga and tackled him to the ground. He shoved the guys face into the rough pavement. He saw a puddle of blood forming under the guys face. He sat over top of the guy with his hand holding the back of his head. He looked up at Suga. Suga’s eyes were larger than normal, and they shook. Daichi stood to run to Suga, he tripped on the arm of the guys beneath him and scrapped his hands more. He finally regained his balance and ran up to Suga embracing him in a hug. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. Suga, please, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Suga.” Daichi whispered in Suga’s ear. Daichi leaned back and grabbed Suga’s shoulders. “Suga, we’re going back to my house now, ok? Let’s go.” Daichi pulled Suga along who never said a word. Daichi looked back one more time and saw both of the guys sitting on the sidewalk with their heads in their hands. 

In front of Daichi’s house, Daichi felt his lungs burning, but then he felt Suga push him away. 

“Who were those guys!” Suga cried out. Daichi made a hushing sound and put out his arms to put on Suga’s shoulders. He backed away from Daichi. 

“Suga, I- Listen, Suga,” Daichi’s throat felt sore, “I don’t know them, but please, let me explain what happened. Let’s go inside and I’ll make us tea.” 

“No,” Suga’s voice shook he was on the verge of crying, “Tell me right now, or I’m leaving.” 

Daichi stared at Suga for a moment, and then he crouched down to his knees. His arms covered his face. It wasn’t the matter of telling Suga that he was almost mugged by those guys, it was the matter of coming out and saying how he knew how to fight. 

“How-” Suga sobbed, “How do you know how to fight like that?” 

Daichi peeked up at Suga. They could’ve been seriously hurt. Those guys could have pulled out a knife, or a gun even. And here Daichi was, more nervous to tell Suga that he fought for fun, nervous of how Suga thought of him. He stood up and wrapped his hand around Suga’s head, nudging away the tears that had escaped from Suga’s eyes. 

“Please, I’m telling the truth. I don’t know those guys, I’ve only run into them once before, ok? It was in the summer, and it was late, and they tried to rob me. Ok, I don’t know those guys. I didn’t even recognize them. Suga, I’m so sorry,” Daichi kissed Suga’s face all over, “Before I had no choice but to fight them, I was so scared they were going to hurt you.” 

“But- but- but Daichi-” Suga sputtered. 

“Shh, Suga,” Daichi rested his forehead on Suga’s, “You’re safe. They will never hurt you as long as I’m around.” 

Suga pulled his head away from Daichi. 

“Why do you even know how to fight like that, Daichi?” 

Daichi laid his head down on Suga’s shoulder. 

“Please, let’s go sit down.” Daichi mumbled into Suga’s shoulder. Suga finally agreed to go inside. So they sat together on the couch. Daichi took a deep breath. 

“This is not anything bad, ok?” Daichi said, Suga nodded his head in affirmation. Daichi took another deep breath. 

“So, on the weekends, when I’m not with you,” the pounding in his chest forced him to be more breathier, “I go to this house,” his heart was beating more and more rapidly, “And…I…fight, for fun.” 

Daichi stopped breathing in wait of Suga’s reply. 

“Like a boxing club?” 

“Sort of, but it’s not like that.” 

“Then what is it like?” 

“It’s more like, fighting with no rules," Daichi described, but Suga looked confused, Daichi sighed, "It's street fighting, ok.” Daichi burst out. Suga jerked his face back and his eyebrows nearly touched one another. 

“What?” Suga snapped. Daichi shook his head. 

“It’s not a big deal though.” 

“ _Not_ a big deal? You fight people for fun? Daichi! You could get seriously injured. You have- you have to stop.” Suga demanded. Daichi thought he was going to laugh. 

“I don’t have to stop. Nothing is going to happen. The only thing that’s going to happen is me strengthening my skill to fight. I just protected us. _They’re_ the reasons I fight. I’m not stopping.” 

Suga scoffed and stood up and peered down at Daichi. Daichi reached for Suga’s hands, but Suga pulled his hands up to his chest. 

“Are you being serious?” Suga asked, and Daichi felt immature, but he also felt himself getting angry, “You’re going to get yourself hurt. Go join a boxing club and fight safely then.” 

“Suga, just because you’re my boyfriend-” 

“What!” Suga interrupted Daichi, “This isn’t about our relationship!” Suga said throwing his hands over his head. 

“Then what is it about?” Daichi spat out. Suga choked on a laugh, or a sob, Daichi couldn’t tell which. Suga turned around and started to pace and when he found himself back in front of Daichi, he looked tired. 

“This is about your safety, Daichi. I’m not telling you to stop because I’m a controlling _boyfriend_ , I’m telling you this as your best friend, or did I lose that title when you decided you liked me?” 

“No, that’s not it.” 

“Then stop fighting,” Suga said with desperation coating his voice, “I only have your best interest and safety and heart, Daichi.” 

“Why can’t I do what I want then?” 

Suga threw his head back and slapped his face. He dropped his arms and looked at Daichi. 

“Then do whatever you want, Daichi, but I can’t do this,” Suga said gesturing to Daichi, “You. I can’t support you.” 

Suga’s eyes were scrunched tight. Daichi slowly stood up from the couch. 

“What, what do you mean?” Daichi walked closer to Suga, but every step Daichi took, Suga took one backwards. 

“It means, that if you don’t stop fighting and consider your safety, then, then,” Suga shook his head and tears sporadically ran down his face, “Then I can’t be your boyfriend, not until- until you think about the consequences of dangerously fighting like that.” 

Daichi’s face dropped, and all the muscles in his body went soft. Suga wiped his face off with the back of his hand. 

“I’m sorry, Daichi, but until you change your mind, I can’t act like you aren’t putting yourself in danger.” Suga said sniffling. Daichi only stared at Suga. His tongue was sandpaper that didn’t allow him to speak. He shook his head. 

“I’m sorry,” Suga said and walked to the door, “Let me know if you change your mind, and please, put yourself first and do whatever makes you happy.” 

Daichi watched as the door closed behind Suga.


	21. Only So Much Damage can be Taken Before You Have to Fight Back

Daichi fell asleep on the couch after Suga left. He didn’t understand why Suga thought that it wasn’t ok for Daichi to street-fight. He had been doing this for months. He never came home with more than a few bruises. He protected himself and Suga from the same guys he had protected himself from before. He didn’t let them touch Suga, of course he wouldn’t have let them. Yet, Suga doesn’t listen to Daichi’s whole story and he refused to allow him to continue to fight because, because what? Because he loves to make Daichi feel like he’s immature and naïve? So Suga just- left. Daichi didn’t want Suga to leave him alone. 

When Daichi woke up in the morning, there was no text, no call, and no knock at the door. The house felt quieter than it normally did. Daichi threw some clean clothes on and head out the door without making himself lunch. 

He walked to school, alone, he walked through the halls of the school alone, and when he sat down in class, he sat down alone. Suga hadn’t come into class yet. When Suga walked into class, Daichi saw him wave to someone- Azumane. Dammit, Daichi thought, how could Suga act so normal with everything that had just happened the night before? Suga momentarily made eye contact with Daichi but immediately eyed the floor. After that, Suga didn’t wink at Daichi in class, or smile at him, or even look his way. What was the lecture even about? 

It was lunch and Daichi built his nerves up and walked over to Suga. Suga looked up at him. Daichi wasn’t sure if Suga’s heart was beating out of his chest, but his was. 

“Can we talk?” Daichi asked. 

“Of course.” Suga smiled, of course Suga smiled. 

They walked to the roof of the school, like they were doing before, but they didn’t speak a word on their way there. They stood on the roof of the school and looked over the surrounding wall. 

“I feel as if I didn’t fully explain myself last night.” Daichi started. 

“What else is there to explain?” Suga demanded. Daichi looked over at Suga. Suga was hurt, Daichi knew it, but Suga hid it well. 

“I am safe when I fight. I’ve been doing this for a couple of months. I know when enough is enough when I’m fighting.” Daichi attempted to explain. 

“How long exactly have you been doing this that you feel that comfortable with the idea of fighting total strangers, Daichi?” Suga’s words hit Daichi harder than any punch in any fight. Daichi shook his head, and then Suga gasped, “Is that what you were doing all those weekends, fighting? What about when you went to visit Kuroo?” 

Daichi’s jaw dropped and his eyes glossed over. Whatever he wanted to say got stuck in his throat. 

“It’s not like that though.” Daichi blurted out. 

“Tell me, then Daichi, what is it like then?” Suga said with agitation written across his face. Daichi gaged on his words. He closed his eyes. 

“It’s exactly like that.” Daichi whispered. Suga took a step back. 

“That’s what I thought,” Suga whispered back, “Are you still going to fight?” 

Daichi stared at Suga’s fidgeting fingers. He didn’t answer. Suga rolled his head. 

“I’ll take that as a yes then,” Suga started to walk away, but he walked back to Daichi and wrapped his arms under Daichi’s and grasped at Daichi’s shoulder blades, “Minds change, let me know if yours does.” 

Suga tore himself from Daichi and ran back inside the building. He guessed Suga didn’t have a lunch today either. 

Daichi stayed on the roof of the building, he was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t hear the bell ring signifying that lunch was over. A classmate, not Suga, came up onto the roof of the building to grab him for class. 

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Daichi said. 

“But-” his classmate started off. 

“I SAID I’LL BE THERE IN A MINUTE.” Daichi screamed, his voiced echoed in the empty rooftop. His classmate scrunched his face and left. Daichi slammed his fist on the table on the roof. He felt nothing. He stood, stiffly, and walked back inside of the building. He made his way into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror, not at himself though, he just looked. He clenched his eyes shut and titled his head back and sighed. He ran the water and splashed some on his face. 

When he walked into the classroom, it wasn’t Daichi. No. The little bit of hair on his forehead was pushed over from the water he had splashed in his face, his shirt was somewhat untucked, hands remained in his pockets, and he did what his parents hated most, he was slouched over. Okay, all of these things would have made his parents’ heads explode. Upon entering the room, his teacher proceeded to lecture him on being tardy, but Daichi only made his way to his desk and sat down without hearing a single word. 

During practice, Daichi didn’t bark orders around or demand the team to do laps, he spoke words that left chills on everyone’s spine. 

Tanaka and Noya stared at each other as goosebumps covered their skin. They looked over at Suga who stood up straight but stared at the ground. He caught the eyes of the boys and flashed them a smile, Tanaka and Noya attempted to smile back. 

Daichi waited until everyone left the gym and after everyone changed and left and he went back into the gym, still in his gym clothes. He bounced a volleyball in place. He tossed it and spiked it as hard as he could on the other side of the gym. He watched it bounce and hit the wall and it rolled half way back to him. He took a few steps and he heard the gym door open and he looked over his shoulder to see who it was. Tanaka. 

Tanaka walked over to the ball and volleyed it to Daichi, and Daichi volleyed it back. They kept going. 

“When’s our next practice game?” Tanaka asked. Daichi raised an eyebrow. 

“Two weeks from now.” Daichi replied. 

“Awesome, I always like to get in extra practice before a game,” Tanaka said, attempting to be excited, but Daichi gave no reply, “I know that’s not why you’re in here though.” Tanaka mumbled and gave a weak volley back. Daichi fell to his knees and received the ball. Tanaka laughed and caught the ball. Daichi walked over to Tanaka and put his hands on the ball. Tanaka held tight on the ball and said, “But, I’m always down for extra practice if you are.” Tanaka smiled and let go of the ball and headed back out of the gym door. 

Daichi felt indifferent to accepting help. He knew he had himself under control. Daichi hadn’t fought since Friday night. He didn’t even engage the fight from last night. It had barely been 24 hours since Suga told him that being his boyfriend meant supporting his “dangerous” fighting habits. 

So Daichi cleaned up, and cleaned himself up. He walked home. His mind was completely blank, literally so lost in his thoughts that he wasn’t even aware that he was thinking. When was the last time he blinked? He blinked. He walked up to his house, he could see from the window that television was on, he didn’t have to look at the driveway to see if his father was home, because that was enough to know that he was. 

Daichi walked into his house, took his shoes off and slid into his room. Although his father was probably asleep on the couch, he still didn’t want to have to deal with any conversation. 

Daichi fell on his bed, his legs hung off the edge, and he just laid there. What if he just texted Suga. I mean, just because Suga had broken up with him doesn’t mean that they’re still not friends right? Ok, Daichi was hurt and couldn’t act normal, and Suga was probably hurt too, no, Daichi knew that Suga was hurt. He could clearly see Suga’s face when they stood on the roof earlier. No, he cleared Suga’s face from his mind. 

Maybe a text wouldn’t hurt. 

Daichi grabbed his phone and pulled up his messages. Wow. He never realized the lack of social life he had. He hovered his thumb over Suga’s name, but brought up his and Kuroo’s messages. 

_Hey_

That’s all he could think of, but Kuroo texted him back quickly. 

_Well hello there Sawamura_

He could hear Kuroo’s voice calling his name. 

_Suga broke up with me. He found out about me fighting._

Maybe Kuroo would know what to say to Daichi to make him feel better. 

_That’s rough, but you know what you have to do then?_

No, no he didn’t know, but Kuroo texted him again. 

_There’s a few things I guess. You can stop fighting. You can fight. Or you can come and visit me ;)_

Daichi didn’t really feel like doing anything, that he could admit to himself. It was too late for a fight now, so technically he wasn’t fighting, and he couldn’t visit Tokyo in the middle of the week either. 

_Thanks for your suggestions, I take them all to heart_

Daichi texted Kuroo back and threw his phone on the desk, changed into his pajamas and fell asleep. His dreams fought with each other between reaching out and grasping Suga’s hands, and his fists plummeting into an unacknowledged face. 

Daichi repeated Wednesday but as Thursday. And he didn’t talk to Suga during his lunch either. He went through his day, his body went through the day, his mind was five steps behind. Coach Ukai pulled him aside to talk to him, but he didn’t hear what was said to him. 

After practice he left, but he didn’t change out of his gym clothes. He stayed behind and wrapped his hands. He made his way to the abandoned house. 

*** 

He gallops down the steps leading to the basement. The Wolf calls him over right away. He walks straight over to The Wolf, face straight as it had been all day. The Wolf slaps him on the back. 

“Hey, fresh-meat! You wouldn’t bel-” The walk pauses, “Hey, kid, what’s up with yer face?” 

Daichi blinks and looks at the fight going on. 

“Just my face. What were you saying?” 

“Someone finally got brave enough to come and fight me!” The wolf howls with laughter. Daichi cracks a smile and congratulates him, he knows that he, himself, was one of The Wolfs last fights, and he only fought him because he didn’t know who he was. The Wolf sends Daichi over to sign up for a fight for himself. So he does, he signs up for a fight with _Kid_. 

He stands alongside The Wolf and his pack, until his fight is called. When it is called, he strides into the ring, and comes face to face with his opponent, possibly a few years older than him and not particularly muscular either. Daichi didn’t care about the fight as much as he wanted to. Standing in the ring, his arms are lax by his sides and his eyes are focused on his opponent. 

When the announcer calls the fight, all Daichi hears is a muffled yell. He sees a fist flying toward his face, he throws his arms up as a defense. He feels his opponent’s fist slamming into his stomach, and again. Daichi throws his shoulder at his opponent, but coughs when he feels a punch thrown into his ribs. He takes a couple of steps forward and turns to face his opponent who’s already throwing another punch to Daichi’s face. This time his face accepts the punch and spit flies out of his mouth. 

Daichi hears the muffled cheering of The Wolf. Is that cheering or is he just yelling at Daichi? It didn’t matter, Daichi soaks in every punch. 

A punch to his stomach, _Why did Suga break up with him?_

A punch to his face, _Why did Suga care so much?_

A punch to his stomach and one to his ribs, _Why did he not care enough?_

A fist slams into Daichi’s face, so he reciprocates throwing his own punch to the Kid’s face. Daichi feels the vibration from the impact like a wave traveling from his knuckles all the way to his collar bone. While the wave traveled up his arm, it enters through Kid’s skull and shocks his brain. Daichi’s fists falls as his opponent falls to the cement floor. 

His opponent hits the floor, his skull slams against the floor, and Daichi knows that he won the fight in one punch. 

Daichi leaves the ring, and he approaches The Wolf. The Wolf has his arms crossed over his chest, and he scowls at Daichi. Great, Daichi thinks, this is the last thing he needed. 

“What was that?” The Wolf growls. 

“I knocked him out and only threw one punch.” Daichi scoffs. The Wolf steps towards Daichi and casts his eyes on him. 

“Listen kid, you don’t know your opponent, you can’t just go out there and be all careless!” The Wolf whisper screams, “This is why I’m down here, and why I’m not in a professional ring anymore. Now stay here and watch me fight, fresh-meat.” 

The Wolf storms off and steps into the ring. Daichi watchs every step The Wolf takes away from him. Heavy footsteps. Daichi realizes he hit a sore spot. He wonders who The Wolf really was before he was The Wolf. 

When The Wolf finally enters the ring, everyone in the basement cheers. He is a legend, Daichi thinks, he needs to be more careful. When the announcer calls the fight, The Wolf doesn’t hold back at all. Is this what he was like before? This wasn’t even fighting. Every punch, every block, every dodge, and every step The Wolf takes in the ring is graceful and he’s practically dancing, and he’s smiling that curly smile that immediately threw Daichi off. This is The Wolf’s livelihood and Daichi is fooling around and fighting because, because, because Suga broke his heart? No, because Daichi can’t understand his feelings? 

The Wolf dances around and laughs at his opponent, but after a while, The Wolf tires of toying with his opponent, swings his arm, and knocks his opponent out like Daichi had just done in the fight before. 

The pack behind Daichi howls, and the rest of the basement cheers. Daichi cracks a smile. The Wolf walks up to Daichi and opens his mouth to speak, but Daichi cuts him off. 

“I was wrong. Watching you fight was amazing, thank you.” Daichi bows to The Wolf. The Wolf howls with laughter. 

“I’m glad you recognize a pro when you see one. Now get out of here and I’ll see you tomorrow.” The Wolf pats Daichi on the back and sends him out of the house. 

*** 

Daichi left the house. His body felt completely sore. When he walked into his house, father asleep on the couch and mother hiding in the office, Daichi walked into the bathroom. He flicked the switch on, a bright white light compared to the rest of his TV illuminated house. He stared into the mirror, his dark skin scattered with the early formations of bruises. He rolled his head and his neck cracked. Every punch he had taken in his fight, released more and more stress in his body, it forced out thoughts that plagued his mind. It- it didn’t push out the thought of Suga. 

Daichi looked in the mirror once more. He- could he even go to school in the morning? Suga was going to see the bruises. The bruises were going to be more apparent the next day. Suga was going to see the bruises that decorated his face. _Suga was going to see bruises._ Daichi tasted the saltiness of his tears. 

Daichi threw himself over the toilet, he hit his stomach and he felt every place he had been punched. The taste of salt in his mouth was replaced with stomach acid. He felt snot pour from his nose, and more and more tears puddle in his eyes and overflow onto his face.


	22. A Blood Bath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just another heads up, there's blood in this chapter.

Daichi had never made himself sick before. It was a new experience. He didn’t like it, he promised himself that he wouldn’t make himself that upset again. He also told himself that he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep that promise. 

After he got sick, he iced his face. After he iced his face, he massaged the bruises to spread the internal bleeding so the bruise wouldn’t be prominent. When he woke up the next morning, there was only one visible bruise. Daichi sighed in relief. Although that was the only visible sign that he was in a fight, his body ached. Getting punched felt good in the moment, it fueled Daichi, but the day later, his body begged him never to fight again. 

There was no knock on the door from Suga. 

Daichi saw Suga wave to Azumane as he entered the classroom. 

Daichi chugged his water bottle. 

At practice, Daichi _acted_ like himself. This part he missed. He realized how childish he had been acting. He missed having fun at practice. 

After practice he offered to buy pork buns to whoever walked with him. Hinata, Kageyama, and Tanaka. No Noya. He had walked with Suga and Azumane. 

Daichi laughed in his head. Suga was more than welcome to come along and get pork buns. Yet, maybe Suga knew that the money he spent was from fighting. 

In the store, Daichi walked up to the counter while Hinata and Tanaka goofed around and Kageyama watched. Daichi pulled money out of his pocket, some fell to the floor. He bent down and collected his money. As he was crouching, he saw a pink box he recognized. He picked it up and put it on the counter. He paid for all the pork buns and the box of strawberry Pocky. 

Hinata and Kageyama had parted their ways which left Tanaka and Daichi walking in the quiet darkness. The second year had never once thought about leaving the team. He was rather emotionally stable. He was a rock. And his head looked like a rock and was probably full of rocks too. 

“So, uh-” Tanaka said rubbing the back of his head, but Daichi threw a hand up to stop him. 

“I’m good, thanks.” Daichi nodded. He knew what Tanaka was going to say. Tanaka let out a combination of a sigh and a laugh. So when the two parted ways, Tanaka gave him a high-five. 

Daichi went straight home. Strawberry Pocky in hand. His mother was home, and his father was just pulling into the drive, but what did it matter? Daichi went straight to his room and changed. He wrapped his hands and stuck all the necessities in his book bag. 

He left his house, without saying anything to his parents, and headed straight for the abandoned house. The Wolf was expecting to see him. 

*** 

Daichi takes one step into the basement and he is greeted by a known face. Not The Wolf, but- the guy he fought last night? _Kid_? 

The Wolf walks over and slings his arm around Daichi’s. A barrier of protection. Kid looked at Daichi and smiled. His faces bares a black eye. 

“Rematch.” 

The Wolf howls with laughter. 

“ _You_ want a rematch after he finished yer match with a single punch?” The Wolf howls and smiles wide baring his teeth. Daichi looks at The Wolf, then to his opponent. 

“Fine.” Daichi agrees to the rematch. A disgusting smile comes across Kid’s face, and Daichi can hear The Wolf growl. 

Daichi stands with The Wolf and his pack as they waited for his fight to be called. Daichi talks idly with The Wolf and he can feel Kid’s eyes on him like spotlights. Anticipation runs through Daichi’s veins and it’s the first time in a few days that his head doesn’t feel completely clouded. 

His fight is called. 

He steps into the ring. 

He exchanges a smile with Kid. 

He steps into his stance. 

He is ready. 

“ _FIGHT!_ ” 

His opponent throws the first punch, Daichi easily dodges the punch completely. He throws his own punch landing on his opponent’s stomach. Kid coughs and spits on the cement floor. Daichi bounces on his feet. Daichi steps towards his opponent and throws punches of determination. They all hit, hard. Daichi takes a step back for a breath of air. His opponent swings, misses, and swings again, grazing Daichi’s face. Sweat pours down his face. 

Wait. 

He feels blood stream down his face and taint his white shirt along with the cement floor. He rubs the back of his hand along his cheek. The white wrap was completely blood soaked. As Daichi stares at his hand, his opponent takes the moment and pounds Daichi’s face again. Daichi feels his bottom lip slit and he tastes the iron of his blood in his mouth. Again, and again, two more punches to the face, Daichi feels blood covering himself. 

“He’s got razors!” Daichi hears The Wolf yell out. 

Daichi swings his arms up to protect his blood covered face. He feels the skin on his arms being sliced open releasing more and more blood. 

This isn’t something he thinks about, it is something he feels. 

He feels wet and as if his feet are a part of the cement floor. He sees the back of his eyelids, he tastes the sting of his blood and he hears a thud and a crack, and more thuds. His eyelids ease open and through the hole between his arms he can see The Wolf on top of Kid, obliterating his face. His arms drop to his side, he feels blood puddle in the palms of his hands. Daichi feels himself stumble to the edge of the ring. His eyes are unfocused and searching. His ears feel muddled with blood, no white noise, only muffled voices. Daichi makes it over to his bag somehow, and when he looks up, people surround him. His breathing, his heart beat had never been so fast before. 

“Give him some air!” someone growls. People are pushed aside and light surrounds The Wolf. He sees The Wolf shoves people away and barks at them to back up. He grasps Daichi’s face with his enormous hands. Daichi’s blood easily covers The Wolfs hands. 

“Let’s get you out of here.” The Wolf says and guides Daichi to the stairwell of the house. 

*** 

The night air hit Daichi’s open cuts like he was taking an ice bath. The Wolf walked with him, asking if he needed to go to the hospital, if he felt okay, if he was dizzy, if he needed any medical attention, what year it was. 

“Thank you for everything. I learned a lot from you, I promise I won’t forget you, but I must leave now.” Daichi said. The taste of iron finally leaving his mouth. He turned and walked away from The Wolf before he could say anything else to Daichi. 

Some of Daichi’s cuts still bled, some of the blood had started to coagulate in attempt to close the cuts. Daichi walked. He did feel dizzy. He normally had a good sense of direction, but he had to stop and think about where he was, and which turn to make. 

Razors. 

He slid them into the wraps on his hand. For what? To humiliate Daichi as payback for ending the fight with one punch the night before? Daichi touched his face, he couldn’t tell how much blood was on his face because his hands were covered in it also. If Daichi had ever wondered what salt and iron tasted like, he knew then. He wasn’t sure if he was still bleeding, or if it was just his tears. Daichi walked and he stood in front of Suga’s house. All the lights were off. 

Daichi started sobbing uncontrollably. He leaned his back against half wall that encased Suga’s house. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands then hugged his knees. The streetlight in front of Suga’s house showed Daichi just how bloody his hands and arms were. He rotated his arms to see just how badly he was cut. Some cuts were small and a few were deep. He let himself fall to the cement. 

He wanted to tell Suga he was right. He wanted to tell Suga he regret not listening to him. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to hug Suga. He wanted so much, but he didn’t want to hurt Suga anymore. 

Daichi laid on the cold sidewalk. He wasn’t sure if the sidewalk was wet or if it was his blood or tears or all three. The sidewalk was hard, but his body had gone numb from shock, he could sleep here. His eyes felt heavy. He thought that if he fell asleep here, that Suga would wake up the next morning and think that he was dead, so he forced his eyes to stay open. On the sidewalk, he wrote, “I’m sorry,” but the blood on his finger was dry. For Daichi, however, he wrote it, and it was still there. 

He thought about when they made rice balls together, how embarrassed he felt when he had rice on his forehead. He still wasn’t sure how it got there. Or when he realized he liked Suga, and coming home for once was actually coming home. Or how he was so jealous of Suga and Azumane even though Suga didn’t like him- Daichi never did apologize. He thought about how nice it was when he first kissed Suga. Suga’s lips were never chapped. 

Daichi smiled, he could feel the slit of his lip pull and he cringed. He pulled his book bag off his shoulders and slowly unzipped the bag. He pulled out the box of strawberry Pocky and opened it. He ate one and it tasted like Suga. 

Daichi sat in front of Suga’s house until he saw the sun start to rise. It was probably around four in the morning. Cars slowly started inhabiting the street, so he stood up and walked home. Both of his parents had already left the house. He stepped into his room; it was dimly lit by the sun. His room was impeccably clean. He threw his bag on the floor and sat on the edge of his bed. He slowly unwrapped his hands. He dropped it on the floor. He shed his shirt, it was bloodier than he had realized. He choked on a sob. He slipped out of the rest of his clothes, grabbed the softest clothes he owned, and stepped into the bathroom. 

His reflection looked pathetic. Cuts swelled his face and blood colored it red. His bottom lip was completely busted open. He tongued the cut and it tasted raw. He clenched his eyes shut, resisting the urge to cry again. He looked at the rest of his body. Lightly stained with blood. He looked like clay with his dark skin tainted red. Not the art clay, but the dirt clay. He felt like dirt. He let a sob escape from his mouth. He crouched down and cried over the bathtub. He blindly reached to turn the water on, and soon the bathroom was filled with steam, but Daichi still laid on the tub wall. The bathroom tile was cold against his bare skin. His crying was replaced with hiccups, he forced himself off the bathroom floor and into the shower. 

The water from the showerhead came down crystal clear, but as the water hit him and made its way to the drain, it was a deep red. The scorching water burned the inside of his wounds. It will help clean it, Daichi thought, but it will open some cuts up again. The heat and the loss of blood made Daichi see doubles, so he sat in the tub as water rained down on him. 

He felt his eyes closing, but he couldn’t sleep just yet. He turned the water off, he thought that he had been awake for almost 24 hours at that point. He sat in the tub and watched the translucent red water swirl down the drain. He sighed and stood up with shaky legs. He stared at his face in the mirror, none of the cuts were bleeding but he could often taste the cut on his lip. He looked at the back of his forearms where most of the other cuts resigned, no bleeding. He patted himself dry, trying not to open any cuts. He put his clothes on, his shirt with extra care not to rub it against his face or his arms. 

He looked at his face again. One of the cuts looked deep, he probably needed stitches. However, getting stitches meant going to the doctor, and going to the doctor with all these cuts meant explaining why he was all cut up, and explaining why he was all cut up meant ratting out the fight scene. He punched the wall ever so softly reminding himself he was grounded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this, there's only two more chapters!! Thank you all so much for reading!


	23. A Long Few Days

Daichi poked around the slices in his skin. They were open wounds bound to get infected. He searched through the medicine cabinets for anti-bacterial cream. He moved bottles and read labels and- there it is. 

The tube was completely dry. He threw it in the trash. He searched his room for his biggest sweatshirt, put it on, zippered and threw his hood up. It was still fairly early, so he was sure that he wouldn’t run into too many people at the grocery store, and it wasn’t _that_ far away from his house. 

He walked to the store with his head low and hidden. He probably looked like Tanaka. Well, Tanaka wasn’t as much of a punk as he thought he was. When he reached the register, the cashier rang up the cream, said the price, and when Daichi lifted his head, the cashier received a whole view of Daichi’s face. The cashier’s face went white and her eyes went wide. Daichi smiled, gave her the correct payment, thanked her and left the store. 

The walk back to his house was trickier. More people walked around, there were crowds of people at bus stops and sidewalks were difficult to maneuver with his head facing the ground. Maybe no one would notice his face. If he acted normal in public no one should notice that he’s acting strange, right? He lifted his head and kept his eyes forward. Wow, he thought, it’s actually working- that was until a lady stared at him as she walked by. His head back down, he finished walking home. 

Back at the mirror, Daichi didn’t just see the cuts on his face, but the bruises forming around them and the bags under his eyes. He took out a cotton ball and squeezed some of the cream onto it. He softly dabbed the deepest cut on his face with the cotton ball. He jerked his hand away, the sting from the anti-bacterial cream was stronger than he thought it was going to be. He still felt it. He dabbed it again. He pulled out a new cotton ball for a different cut. More stinging. A new cotton ball for the cuts on his arms. Even more stinging. He covered the cuts on his arms with band aids and the deep cut on his face with one band aid. 

He felt like a child with all the band aids covering his skin. He felt like a child knowing that this was always a possibility of happening. Yet, he felt the most childish knowing the fact that _Kid_ had done this to him. 

He heard the doorbell ring. Even though he was in the bathroom, he jerked his head as if to see who was at the door. He sneaked his way to the door, his heart pounded in replace of his footsteps. He wanted it to be Suga at the door, but not right now. Daichi looked at the clock, it was around 10. It could be Suga. Suga would’ve been earlier though. But it could be Suga. He opened the door. 

It was the mailman. He stood smiling, holding a dozen or so envelopes and a package. The mailman didn’t flinch when he saw Daichi’s face. 

“Oh, thanks.” Daichi said stretching his arms out from the mail. The mailman bid Daichi a good day and then left. 

Daichi felt relieved, but also disappointed that it wasn’t Suga. A text wouldn’t hurt, he should just text Suga, this situation could not get any worse. No, no, he already decided that it could. Talking to Suga now would be a last resort, he couldn’t bear the thought of Suga seeing him all cut up and bruised. 

Daichi cleared Suga from his mind, and a nap would help with that. 

Daichi fell into his bed and slipped into a deep sleep. When he woke up that night, his parents were home, so he stayed in his room and fell asleep again. 

The next morning, Daichi woke up early from sleeping for about 18 hours. He peeked his head out of his room to see if his parents were still in the house. They weren’t. Daichi headed into the bathroom to clean his cuts. He pulled off the band aids in a way that if the cuts that had started to close, wouldn’t reopen. He put the cream on them. 

It still stung. 

He made breakfast. He wasn’t sure when he ate last. It was definitely the Pocky he ate last. Suga. 

Around 10 in the morning again, the doorbell rang. Daichi opened the door slowly. Once again, the mailman. Daichi thanked the mailman again, and the mailman didn’t question all the cuts in his face again. What a nice guy, Daichi thought. 

If Daichi was being honest with himself, he wasn’t really sure what to do, he sat on the couch and stared at the ceiling. How could one be so bored? He wasn’t going to lie to himself- he missed Suga. Once Daichi’s wounds healed, that would be the first thing he would do. Makeup with Suga. Apologize to Suga. Daichi didn’t care if he never kissed Suga again, he just wanted Suga back in his life. Daichi had given up his best friend. Daichi eyes felt swollen, but he couldn’t cry anymore. He sat on the couch with a breath stuck in his throat and puffy eyes. 

He touched his face. It hurt some. He touched his lip. The cut opened again. He could taste the familiarity in his blood. He clenched his eyes shut. 

When he heard a car pull into the driveway, he made his way to his room. He didn’t think his parents would even notice the slices in his face. His father’s eyes were usually glued to the TV and his mother was usually looking over documents for work. His mother possibly knew what he looked like, but if he just walked around the house, they wouldn’t even notice. He laughed. Did anyone love him, he asked himself. 

Daichi asked himself that question over and over until he fell asleep, and when he woke up, it was Monday. There was no knock at the door. 

He got dressed and headed into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror with horror. He had forgotten what his face looked like. He could cover the cuts on his arms up, but not the ones on his face. He sighed, he knew he couldn’t go to school like this. 

He went back to bed. He woke up again to the doorbell ringing, he went to see who it was. The mailman. Daichi guessed it was around 10. Daichi said thanks, but the mailman gave him a weird looked this time. 

“Shouldn’t you be in school?” He asked Daichi, and Daichi looked at the mail he was just given. He had always ignored the doorbell when he heard it before, and now he secretly wanted it to be Suga each time he opened the door. 

“Can’t really when I look like this.” Daichi said gesturing to his face. The mailman nodded, and then he waved and walked away. But he also smiled, which made Daichi think that maybe he would go to school the next morning. 

At practice, everyone questioned Suga about Daichi’s whereabouts. He felt sweat pouring down his back. 

“I-I don’t know. He wasn’t in class. He’s probably just a little sick.” Suga waved his hand trying to shove the thoughts from everyone’s minds. 

“Maybe I’ll text him.” Asahi said. 

“No!” Suga practically screamed, then he laughed. He knew that if Asahi texted Daichi, it would just be _weird_. Daichi hadn’t really talked to Asahi since he was all sarcastic to him, and Suga couldn’t remember if Daichi ever apologized for it. So he laughed off his brashness and said, “I’ll check on him. He probably just needs a day break. Now let’s practice!” 

When Suga left practice, he walked home alone. He stood in front of his house and contemplated if he should go to Daichi’s house this late. Maybe he _was_ sick, and if he was sick he’d probably be asleep. Suga walked into his house with his head down. 

Daichi woke up the next morning. There was no knock on the door. He looked in the mirror for a decision. All of his cuts were mostly scabs, and they looked gross. He sat on his couch and picked at his scabs instead of going back to sleep. His scabs itched. He picked one and it underneath the sore was bright red, it didn’t bleed, but it shiny. He subconsciously tongued his busted lip. It tasted like metal. That one would take the longest to heal. He scratched at the cuts on his face. Every time he would pull a scab off, he would cringe. 

At school, Suga sneaked around the halls, trying to be unseen by any of his teammates. He peeked his head into his classroom, Daichi wasn’t there. He furrowed his brow. Suga strode down the hallway. He saw a girl standing outside the classroom. He tapped her shoulder and smiled. 

“Could you grab Michimiya for me please?” Suga asked. The girl giggled and ran into the class. Suga waited for Yui, and when she jumped out of the classroom, she looked excited. Then she met eyes with Suga, and she looked a little disappointed. 

“Oh, hi, Suga.” Yui smiled. 

“Care to talk a walk with me?” Suga smiled back. Yui cocked her head to the side and joined Suga in walking down the hall. He made idle talk with her until he found a quiet place. He turned to her with stone eyes. 

“You’ve known Daichi for a while, right?” Suga asked. Yui’s face turned a deep red and she shook her head. Suga ran his fingers through his hair and asked, “Have you ever known him to skip class?” 

“Not at all. Daichi is always on time to class. Is everything ok?” Yui’s eyes went wide. Suga smiled. 

“Yes, everything is fine. I think Daichi is just feeling under the weather.” Suga shrugged his shoulders. Yui shook her head. 

“Daichi never gets sick, and when he does, he pushes through it and comes to school anyway. You’ve known him for three years, don’t you know this? Maybe I’ll check on him after school.” Yui suggested. Suga felt stupid. He had known Daichi for years. Daichi was never sick. Daichi never missed class. Most importantly, Daichi _never_ missed practice. Suga chuckled. 

“No, no. I’m going to go check on him, don’t worry yourself.” Suga smiled. The bell rang. 

“Sorry, Suga. I have to get to class,” Yui frowned, “Let me know how everything goes.” Yui ran off to class. Suga walked down the hall, but not towards his classroom, though, he walked out of the school. It was about 9:30, he could make it to Daichi’s house in no time. 

Suga started off walking, but his nerves struck his heart and he started to panic. He started to run. His breathing was short, and his lungs were burning. He was on Daichi’s street, he could see Daichi’s house. He passed seven houses, five cars, and a mailman. Suga felt his hands shaking, he grabbed the straps on his book bag and walked up to the door of Daichi’s house. His hand floated above the door, he tried to knock, but all of the energy in his body had been drained from running. He moved his hand over the doorbell, he inhaled, exhaled, and pressed down on the doorbell. His heart pounding in beat with the muffled sound of Daichi’s footsteps. 

Daichi opened the door as if he had been waiting for someone, but when he saw Suga, his eyes went wide and his face dropped. Suga saw one, two, three cuts on Daichi’s face and a busted lip. Suga’s chest felt heavy, his arms felt heavy, his knees felt as if they were going to give out and let his lead body hit the ground. Daichi bit his lip, Suga saw him cringe at the pain. Suga lifted his hands up to Daichi’s face and softly rubbed his thumbs on unslited skin. 

“Daichi,” Suga whispered, “What happened, Daichi?” 

Daichi met Suga’s gaze and slowly nodded his head with his eyes shut. 

“Why didn’t you tell me, Daichi?” Suga asked, and he felt his thumbs catch Daichi’s tears. Daichi wrapped his arms around Suga’s back and pulled him into a hug. 

“I didn’t want to hurt you.” Daichi whispered in Suga’s ear. Suga leaned back and looked at all the gashes in Daichi’s face. One was deep, the others weren’t as bad. 

“That doesn’t matter, I’m so sorry-” 

“No,” Daichi took a step back, “I’m sorry, Suga. I’m so sorry. I knew you were right. I knew it was stupid of me to continue fighting, it just, it just made me feel some type of way. I’m stopping now, Suga. I’m never fighting there again. I’ll never fight ever again if I don’t have to." 

Daichi ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, "I just want you to be my friend again.” 

Suga smiled and clenched his eyes shut. 

“Daichi, we’ll always be friends, I’m sor-” 

“Please don’t say you’re sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for,” Daichi set his eyes on Suga’s, “I’m the one who’s sorry. I know why you had to break up with me. I understand it now.” 

Suga’s face twisted when Daichi mentioned their breakup. They stood in silence, neither of them making eye contact. 

“If you don’t want to get back together than that’s fine.” Daichi said, rubbing his hand over the scabs on his arms that Suga has yet to see. 

“No, I do want to, actually.” Suga whispered to the ground. He finally looked up Daichi. Daichi was smiling, and Daichi looked happy. Suga laughed at himself, “I really beat myself up for the way I acted towards you.” 

Daichi jerked his head, “Why, I got what I deserved.” 

“What?” Suga’s face twisted, “No one deserves this, especially not you.” 

Suga grabbed Daichi’s hands. Suga’s grip was tight and slightly damp. He moved one hand back up to Daichi’s face. 

“Did you go to the hospital?” Suga asked. Daichi dropped his head and said that he didn’t. Suga shook his own head. He wanted to tell him that he should’ve, that he should’ve gone and told them about him fighting and all the other people who fought. He wanted to tell him that the fighting should be broken up so no one else got hurt like he did, he wanted- 

“I’ve been cleaning my cuts though,” He finally showed Suga the cuts on his arm, Suga gasped, “I just knew if I showed up to school like this, you would’ve been upset, and I didn’t want to put you through that after you already told me that I should’ve stopped.” 

“Why didn’t you call me, or come to my house, or anything?” Suga said with hurt eyes. Daichi choked on a laugh. 

“I got you a present.” Daichi said pulling Suga into his house. He brought Suga into his room and rummaged through his book bag. Suga saw the bloodied bandages and shirt that still lay on the floor from when he had taken them off. He didn’t say anything to Daichi about it. Daichi stood up with a box in his hand. 

“I bought you these, ‘cause I know you like them,” Daichi said handing over the opened box of strawberry Pocky, “But I ate one.” 

Suga laughed and immediately ate one. 

“Fank you!” Suga mumbled through the Pocky in his mouth. 

“I uhm, I actually did want to see you after it all happened,” Daichi paused and stared at the box of Pocky in Suga’s hands, “I sat outside your house for hours. I was coated in blood though.” 

Suga had slowly lowered his hands. His eyes weren’t looking at anything, he was lost in what Daichi had just said. Maybe saying he was coated in blood wasn’t the best thing to say. 

“Look how well they’re healing!” Daichi said showcasing the backs of his arms. Suga took a closer look at the cuts. 

“Have you been picking at the scabs?” Suga asked inspecting Daichi’s arm. He hid his arms. 

“Not at all.” Daichi laughed. Suga laughed and cocked his arm back to punch Daichi, but he caught himself and his laughter slowly faded. 

Wait. 

“Daichi, you should come back to class with me,” Suga said and Daichi rubbed the back of his head, “The whole team really missed you yesterday. They won’t say anything about your face, or your arms. Maybe that it makes you look badass.” 

“Oh? You think I look badass?” Daichi said and raised an eyebrow. Suga blushed. 

“No, I think you look stupid,” Suga retorted, “But maybe a little.” 

Daichi laughed and bit his lip. It still tasted raw. 

“Okay, I’ll come back to class with you.”


	24. The Healing Process

Daichi had received some strange looks and double takes from students walking down the hall that afternoon. When he went to practice, Hinata, Tanaka, and Noya crowded around Daichi and stared at his face and asked him a million questions. Daichi wasn’t able to participate in practice, mainly because Suga wouldn’t let him. Daichi tried to argue him, the cuts weren’t even in the inside of his arm where he would hit the volleyball, yet Coach Ukai even told him to sit practice out. So he did. Daichi had taken his time changing after practice. When he climbed down the stairs from the team room, he found Suga waiting for him. When Suga heard his footsteps, he turned his head. 

“Hey.” Suga smiled and Daichi walked up to him. 

“Hey.” Daichi smiled back. It was new all over again, but the same. Daichi’s stomach tickled but it was warm and comforting. Daichi held out his hand for Suga, “Can I walk you home?” 

“Mm, yeah.” Suga said and interlocked his fingers with Daichi’s. Only a couple of steps were taken in silence. 

“If you do want to get back together, do you just,” Daichi paused, “do you want to let everyone know this time?” 

Suga let the question sit in the air. 

“I mean, if you want to. I’m not going to mess it up this time. I promise.” Daichi said squeezing Suga’s hand. 

“Daichi, it’s not completely your fault,” Suga stopped both of them and they stood in the middle of the street, “I would like to be your boyfriend again, though, and I would like to let everyone know.” 

Daichi ran his fingers through the back of Suga’s hair and pulled his head towards his own. Daichi didn’t kiss him however. He just rested his forehead against Suga’s. He could feel Suga smiling, so he laughed. 

They laughed in the street as their cold hands held each other, but the warmth from their laughter kept them from noticing the cold air that surrounded them. 

Daichi slowly brought his lips to Suga’s. Daichi thought he would’ve forgotten what Suga’s lips felt like, but no, they were the same soft lips Daichi kissed last week. Suga grabbed Daichi’s face, but Daichi instantly jerked his head back. 

“I’m sorry!” Suga whisper screamed and lightly run his hands down to Daichi’s neck. 

“It’s okay, I’m okay.” Daichi laughed. He started kissing Suga again. Suga’s lips were warm against Daichi’s cold ones. He felt Suga start to kiss Daichi faster, and faster, and he could feel Suga’s hot breath on his face and Suga- 

“Ow, ow, maybe I’m not okay.” Daichi said rubbing his tongue over the cut on his lip. Suga covered his mouth with his hands. 

“I’m so sorry!” Suga piped. Daichi laughed and reassured that he was, in fact, ok, it was just going to take some time before they could get into it. Daichi wrapped his arms around Suga for a hug. It was okay though because Suga was warm. 

A week had passed and Daichi’s cut were mostly healed. One of the smaller cuts on his face had already closed up and left a pink sliver in its place, and the cut in his lip had left a small cleft in its place. His arms were coated in pink scars, all varying in size. Suga liked to trace over the scars with his fingers and say sorry to each one; they were smooth and forgiving. 

Holding hands in the hall was a normal thing to see between the captain and vice-captain of the boys’ volleyball team. Tanaka often ran into them while they secretly exchanged a kiss. He wouldn’t be able to look at them for the rest of the day. 

Daichi sat in class. He rapidly tapped his pen against his desk. His classmate sitting next to him sucked his teeth, Daichi stopped, but then started chewing on his pen and shaking his leg. He checked his phone for the time, 1:37 on a Thursday afternoon. He couldn’t wait to get out of class. 

Class ended, practice ended. He walked with Suga in the dark streets. 

“Hey, do you mind joining me, there’s someplace I would like to visit.” Daichi said, rubbing his thumb as he held Suga’s hand. Suga noticed how anxious Daichi had been the whole day. 

“Sure,” Suga smiled, “Where do you want to go?” 

Daichi stopped walking and held both of Suga’s hands. He took a deep breath and exhaled. 

“I just want to see,” Daichi paused and took another breath, “I want to see the man who helped me when I needed it. I’m not asking you to come into the place with me, I’ll ask him to come out so I can talk to him. I think you’d like him.” 

Suga stared at Daichi for a few heavy seconds. He closed his eyes and nodded his head once. 

“Okay, I’ll come with you.” Suga agreed. Daichi felt relieved. He just wanted to thank The Wolf again, just once more. 

The walk to the abandoned house took longer than it ever had. He remembered stumbling to Suga’s house the night it all happened. He pushed the thought from his mind. The street was darker than normal, he felt. The house was darker than normal too. He paused at the sidewalk in front of the house. He turned to Suga. 

“Okay, let me go grab him and I’ll be right out.” Daichi said and kissed Suga. He turned and faced the house. The first step he took was heavy, his strides were long. He reached the door of the house and walked towards the basement stairs. 

There was no light. 

There were no sounds of fists pounding into bodies. 

There was no scent of sweat, only mildew. 

Yet, the thing Daichi missed the most, there was no howling. 

He walked outside of the house. Suga shifted his balance, but then caught sight of Daichi. Daichi walked by himself to Suga. Suga cocked his head to the side. 

“Was he not there?” Suga asked. Daichi blinked and furrowed his brows. 

“No one was there.” Daichi said, almost in the form of a question. Suga grabbed Daichi’s hands and rubbed them. Suga felt _bad_ that Daichi couldn’t see the person who helped him in his time of need, but he was glad that the place was no longer active. 

“I’m sorry.” Suga replied. It was the only thing he thought of to say. Daichi shook his head. 

“No, no. It’s fine, that place needed to be shut down.” Daichi said, and after a moment he smiled at Suga. Maybe The Wolf, Daichi thought, had the place shut down. That would have been cool of the old man. Daichi wrapped his hand around Suga’s and they started off towards Daichi’s house. Daichi wished that he could have seen The Wolf one last time, to hear the howls from him and his pack, just to get a little more wisdom from him- Daichi’s phone rang. 

It was Kuroo. 

_How’s that beautiful face of yours doing?_

Daichi scoffed out loud. Suga looked over Daichi’s shoulder to read the text, he had gotten used to the way Kuroo texted Daichi. He didn’t think of himself needing to be jealous; Daichi only showed interest in him anyway. 

_Almost all healed. They shut down the place I used to fight._

Daichi sent the text and looked over at Suga. Suga gave him a kiss on the lips. Daichi’s phone rang again. Suga kissed him again. And again. And again. Daichi laughed and looked at the message on his phone. 

_Wow. Well I’ve stopped fighting too…hope everything is going well with Suga_

He finished reading the text and looked in Suga’s eyes. Everything was going well, no, perfect with Suga. He started kissing Suga, slowly moving down to his neck. 

“Daichi, we’re in the middle of the street.” Suga moaned, so Daichi gave him a raspberry on his neck and Suga burst into laughter and attempted to wriggle out of Daichi’s hold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! This has been so much fun for me and I hope you enjoyed :)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing a fan fic, so please, suggestions are awesome.


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